LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

UNITED STATE'S OP AMERICA. 



5> 



LETTER 

TO 

CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 



LETTER 



TO 

CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 



BY MRS. HOUS MAN. 




notion: 

printed by hughes and robinson, 
king's head court, gough s&uare. 



M.DCCC.XL* ill. 



LETTER 



TO 

CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 



Dear Sir, 

In one of your epistles, written during 
your late visit at Heworth Moor, you alluded to 
the winged globe, and stated that you had seen 
some account of it in a recent publication. I 
have seen an attempted explanation on the subject, 
which I by no means deem satisfactory. The fact 
is, it is liable to perversion, and may be explained 
consonantly with the Biblical records, or may be 
made subservient to the hypothesis of the solar 
system. Having not yet seen the publication 
spoken of by my correspondent, it is impossible 
to say whether speculative science or the Biblical 

A 



2 LETTER TO 

records be defended by the author of the work in 
which the winged globe is depicted ; but since we 
are free to choose, the latter supposition will be 
adopted, for the purpose of offering some remarks 
on the subject. 

For this purpose we quote the fifth chapter of 
Zechariah, which is headed as follows : " By the 
flying roll is showed the curse of thieves and 
swearers : By a woman pressed in an ephah, the 
final damnation of Babylon!' 

Verse 1. " Then I turned, and lift up mine eyes, 
and looked, and behold a flying roll. (2.) And 
he said unto me, (i. e. the angel or messenger,) 
What seest thou ? And I answered, I see a flying 
roll (winged globe) ; the length thereof is twenty 
cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. (3.) 
Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth 
forth over the face of the whole earth : for every 
one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side 
according to it ; and every one that sweareth shall 
be cut off as on that side according to it. (4.) I 
will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it 
shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the 



CHARLES EM PS ON, ESQ. 3 

house of him that sweareth falsely by my name : 
and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and 
shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the 
stones thereof." 

Although the preceding verses have no apparent 
connection with the transgression of the molten calf 
or solar system, yet such an application does, in 
reality, belong to them. But it would be tedious 
to enter into the detailed explanations required by 
the numerous references connected with the sub- 
ject, — and it may suffice to say that the tenor of 
the verses as they now stand, devoid of the ex- 
planatory help which belongs to them, show the 
winged globe to be an article of destruction where- 
soever it toucheth : and if we take it in the light 
of which it is an emblem, namely, the motion of the 
earth, it is the destroyer of faith in God's word. 
But to proceed: 

Verse 5. "Then the angel that talked with me 
went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine 
eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. (6.) 
And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an 
ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is 



4 



LETTER TO 



their resemblance through all the earth. (7.) And, 
behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead : and 
this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the 
ephah. (8.) And he said, This is wickedness ; and 
he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he 
cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. 
(9.) Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, 
behold, there came out two women, and the wind 
was in their wings; for they had wings like the 
wings of a stork : and they lifted up the ephah 
between the earth and the heaven. (10.) Then 
said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither 
do these bear the ephah? (11.) And he said unto 
me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar; 
and it shall be established, and set there upon her 
own base : " that is, (according to the tenor of the 
quotation,) on the base of wickedness. 

It will be proper, before we examine the nar- 
ratives of the prophets relative to the land of 
Shinar, to define the talent of lead, and the woman 
that sat in the midst, which is descriptive of the 
globe we inhabit, considered as a planet in the 
firmament ; for so the expression *S22 Kikkor 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 5 

Gnopheret 1 announces : the Kikkor signifying a 
certain weight of roundish form, and the Gnopheret 
signifying dust, also lead. Hence the Kikkor 
Gnopheret is a certain weight of earth of roundish 
form. 

We have in our English Bible translated it 
lead, and properly so; because, in Hebrew, lead 
is Gnopheret, on account of its being easily reduced 
to an atomical state. And with regard to the 
woman in the midst, it is expressed in the Hebrew 
Bible by the two words PWN Isha Achat, — 
fire-substance, or a certain fire (taking the pi Hay 
of the word ?W& Isha as a paragogic letter, i. e. 
to lay stress on the preceding letter) ; which words 
also signify a woman. Although only one woman 
was pressed into the ephah, yet the description is, 
that two came out, " And they had wings, as the 
wings of a stork," which completed the symbol, 
because the expansion of four wings made it accord 
with the four cardinal extremities : the eastern, the 
western, the northern, and the southern wings, 



Pronounced as Kikkore Nopheret. 



6 



LETTER TO 



were emblems of the spirit, or wind. They are 
expressed in the Hebrew word mD2D canfote, 
which is a noun feminine plural, signifying the 
borders, extremities, or edges of the earth. Con- 
fined to that point of view only, it was right ; but 
when the expansion of wings, as described by the 
prophet, bore up that which was emblematic of the 
altar — descriptive of the firm-set immoveable earth 
— into an inappropriate station, — it was deemed 
wickedness. <c And this (said the angel) is their 
resemblance through all the earth." 

Lady Isha, the Buto of Egypt, (that particular 
woman of a certain fire, described by the prophet 
Zechariah, whose house and base are in the land 
of Shinar,) is the flying roll in another form. Her 
present costume is the livery of the King. In 
the engraving from which this figure was taken, 
another stands opposite, to whom she is presenting 
the breast-plate intended to represent Truth. But 
as the word Ntol Buto signifies to speak rashly, 
foolishly, or unadvisedly, and as Isha becomes, in 
her present livery, the oracle of the king, it stamps 
him as a rash and foolish solar monarch! 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 7 

Now, the precious stones placed in the breast- 
plate of God's high priest were called D'HIN Urim 
(from radix TIN Ur), signifying lights ; not merely 
from their splendour, but principally, it was said, 
from the illumination of the Divine oracles delivered 
by Jehovah to the high priest, when arrayed in 
them ; and are likewise called D^ftn Thummim, 
completion or perfection, from the said oracle never 
failing, but always being accomplished. We know 
it is that never-failing oracle, which did predict 
against the principles on which Egypt's system 
stands. " I am going (said the Divine Oracle, the 
Jehovah) to visit Ammon in wrath and desolation." 
He fulfilled the denouncement against the temple 
of Ypsambul, where a solar fixture was the com- 
mander, and fire the pervader ; for in Ammon s 
temple, as well as in that of Diana, was kept a 
perpetual lamp, a burner in the temple's centre, — 
an illumination, as of Baal in honour of the Sim ; 
answering to our planetary imagery, whose device 
is perpetual fire in the centre. So that Osiris, 
when he honours Isis with royal livery, places the 
crown of Cronus (i. e. the horns of a bull) on the 



8 LETTER TO 

head of Buto, which indicates the strong horns, — 
the rays from the Sun's irresistible periphery. 

In respect to the dedication of this temple under 
the pyramids, the following is a translation from 
a Coptic inscription found in a niche of the rocks : 
" (The homage of) . . . with my son's, and those 
who have laboured with me. I have done this, 
and have testified to the gods . . . and to our 
Lady Isis of Senscis." Another follows : " To 
Serapis . . . Mneuis, and to Isis, and to Apollo, 
and to all the other gods enshrined with them. 
I have made the temple." What a multitude of 
dead gods ! 

We are to bear in mind that Zechariah, when 
on the subject of the transgression of the flying roll, 
or winged globe, announces " the final damnation of 
Babylon" and refers to the prophet Jeremiah's 
earnest solicitation to depart from that transgressing 
territory, (Jer. 1. 8 ; li. 6 :) " Remove out of the 
midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of 
the Chaldeans, and be as the leaders before the 
flocks." — "Flee out of the midst of her, and 
deliver every man his soul : be not cut off in her 



PLATE 18. 




CHARLES EM PS ON, ESQ. 9 

iniquity : for this is the time of the Lord's ven- 
geance." — Of similar purport is the inspired passage 
in Rev. xviii. 4, to which we are directed by the 
marginal reference — "And I heard another voice 
from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye 
receive not of her plagues." These, then, are the 
tints in which the vale of Shinar was pourtrayed, 
wherein the splendid stronghold of disobedience 
stood, — that receptacle of solar stability in the 
character of Osiris, and of a rotated earth in the 
figure of a winged globe ; — the uplifted ephah, — 
the curse that goeth forth, — their resemblance 
through all the earth ! 

The sublime prophet Isaiah, when treating of 
the deep hypocrisy of the Jews, says, "Forasmuch 
as this people draw near me with their mouth, and 
with their lips do honour me, but have removed 
their heart far from me, and their fear toward me 
is taught by the precept of men : Therefore, behold, 
I will proceed to do a marvellous work amongst 
this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder : 
for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and 



10 



LETTER TO 



the understanding of their prudent men shall be 
hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their 
counsel from the Lord, and their works are in 
the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who 
knoweth us? Surely your turning of things up- 
side down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay : 
for shall the work say of him that made it, He 
made me not? or shall the thing framed say of 
him that framed it, He had no understanding ? " 
— Reference to chap. xlv. 9 : " Woe unto him that 
striveth with his Maker : let the potsherd strive 
with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay 
say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou ? 
or thy work, He hath no hands ? " . . . "I have 
made the earth, and created man upon it : I, even 
my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all 
their host have I commanded.' ' This evidently 
refers to their hypothetical system of creation, — 
turning things upside down by disputing the principles 
on which the Almighty hath declared his structure 
of the universe to be ; and not only declared, but 
hath given ocular demonstration of that fact. 

The same prophet, Isaiah, when he threateneth 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 11 

the people for their confidence in Egypt, says, " Woe 
to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take 
counsel, but not of me ; and that cover with a 
covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add 
sin to sin ; that walk to go down into Egypt, (and 
have not asked at my mouth,) to strengthen them- 
selves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in 
the shadow of Egypt : Therefore shall the strength 
of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the 
shadow of Egypt your confusion/' 

Now, where the prophet asserts that the " wisdom 
of their ivise men shall perish, and the understanding 
of 'their prudent men shall be hid'' our attention is 
directed to the 11th chapter of Matthew, where, 
among the various subjects which it offers for re- 
flection, we find the following sentence, expressed 
by Jesus Christ : "I thank thee, O Eather, Lord of 
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these 
things from the wise and prudent, and hast re- 
vealed them unto babes:" thus speaking meta- 
phorically, whilst at the same time alluding to the 
Divine precepts in general. It is also worthy of 
note that Christ omits not to touch on the works 



12 LETTER TO 

of creation, — "0 Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth;" a form of expression which implies a 
distinction, confirming the fact that the earth on 
which we live is not a rotting object among the 
starry host. The Saviour, no doubt, during his 
sojourn on earth, found that the wise were too 
proud to listen to the simple truth 9 and the prudent, 
probably, too cunningly cautious to be led to adopt 
the Divine precepts; the more particularly those 
announcements regarding the system of the uni- 
verse, of which St. Paul warns us to beware lest 
we should be " spoiled through philosophy and vain 
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements 
of the toorld, and not after Christ!' It was the 
pride of philosophy and the vain deceit of speculative 
science in ancient days, that caused the downfall of 
many powerful nations. Now with respect to the 
term ' babes! as a metaphor, may it not be assumed 
that it referred to those who received the Divine 
revelation without demur; and, by maintaining 
their integrity without wavering, became as it were 
a strong fort against the enemy ? 

The royal Psalmist observes — " Out of the 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 13 

mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained 
strength, because of thine enemies; that thou 
mightest still the enemy and the avenger :" i. e. the 
devotees of solar science, as, in the verse imme- 
diately following, we read, "When I consider thy 
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars, which thou hast ordained," &c.; but, not 
worlds and mns conformable to solar fixedness, the 
proud doctrine of the enemy and avenger. 

In the 11th chapter of Matthew, from which has 
been quoted the thankful expression of Christ, that 
revelation had been delivered to the meek and 
lowly, we find that he " upbraideth the unrejpentance 
of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum the latter 
of which was most audacious in its aspirations. 
At verse 23, we read, "And thou, Capernaum, 
which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought 
down to hell," &c. ; and the marginal reference 
to Isaiah xiv. 13, 14, reveals the nature of the 
offence. " For thou hast said in thine heart, I 
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne 
above the stars of God : I will sit also upon the 
mount of the congregation, in the sides of the 



14 LETTER TO 

north. I will ascend above the heights of the 
clouds ; I will be like the most High." 

I have remarked before, when treating of a 
subject similar to the present, that there is not 
any occupation, nor any species of teaching in this 
world, at all applicable to the above quoted verses, 
except our present astronomical teachings. And 
moreover is should be observed, that while the 
audacious enemy declares that he " will sit on the 
mount of the congregation, in the sides of the 
north," there was no door to the north in the 
primitive sanctuary, and that, consequently, those 
who would force themselves therein at that quarter, 
must of necessity obtain entrance by an unlawful 
passage. 

The twenty-eighth chapter of Isaiah claims our 
attention, as it touches on both the systems of 
which our present subject is composed. Verses 
1, 2, 3. "Woe to the crown of pride, to the 
drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a 
fading flower, which are on the head of the fat 
valleys of them that are overcome with wine ! 
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, 



CHARLES E MP SON j ESQ, 15 

which as a tempest of hail, and a destroying storm, 
as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast 
down to the earth with the hand. The crown of 
pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden 
under feet." 

To give an idea why the Lord's tempest of hail, 
and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters 
overflowing, were reserved as a chastisement for 
the proudly, the pompously, and the luxuriously 
living Ephraimites, i. e. Jerusalemites, the prophet 
Hosea furnishes the needful information : " When 
Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in 
Israel ; but when he offended in Baal, he died." 

The prophet Isaiah further states (verse 4), that 
their doings, and, of course, their science, would 
finally become as " a fading flower, and as the 
hasty fruit before the summer which metaphor 
conveys the idea of an article of no solid value — a 
mere evaporation. And at the 5th verse we read, 
" In that day " (that is, when the flimsiness of 
their general proceedings had ceased to buoy them 
up, and had come to nought as a fading flower, that 
then) " shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of 



16 



LETTER TO 



glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue 
of his people;" which gives us to understand that 
when the idol of the desolator had ceased to hold 
captive the minds of the people, that then the 
announcements of the Lord of hosts would be 
received, and treasured as a crown of glory and a 
diadem of beauty. At the 7th verse we read, — 
" they are out of the way through strong drink ; 
they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." 
Hence their belief in that system which sets all 
things revolving in their orbits ! 

According to the heading of the chapter, the 
prophet informs them of their security ; and in 
what way, is explained in the 14th and 15th verses: 
" Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scorn- 
ful men, that rule this people which is in Jeru- 
salem. Because ye have said, We have made a 
covenant with death, and with the grave are we 
at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall 
pass through, it shall not come unto us : 2 for we 



2 The marginal reference here directs us to Amos ii. 4. " Thus saith 
the Lord ; for three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn 
away the punishment thereof ; because they have despised the law of the 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 17 

have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood 
have we hid ourselves." And in the 16th verse 
Christ is announced as the sure foundation pro- 
mised : "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, 
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, 
a tried stone, a precious comer -stone, a sure foun- 
dation, &c. (17.) Judgment also will I lay to 
the line, and righteousness to the plummet ; and 
the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the 
waters shall overflow the hiding-place." Again, 
as in the heading of the chapter, " their security 
shall be tried!' Verse 18. "And your covenant 
with death shall be disannulled, and your agree- 
ment with hell shall not stand : when the over- 
flowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall 
be trodden down by it." And at verse 23, they 
are incited to the consideration of God's discreet 
providence. We will, however, proceed with the 
narrative until it comes to what the people are 
incited to take into consideration. 



Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them 
to err, after which their fathers have walked;" i.e. after Baalim, their 
solar systems. 

B 



18 LETTER TO 

Verse 19. "From the time that it goeth forth 
it shall take you : for morning by morning shall 
it pass over, by day and by night ; and it shall be 
a vexation only to understand the report. (20.) 
For the bed is shorter than a man can stretch 
himself upon it; and the covering narrower than 
that he can wrap himself in it. 3 (21.) For the 
Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, 4 he shall 
be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may 
do his work, his strange work ; and bring to pass 
his act, his strange act. (22.) Now therefore be 
ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong; 
for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a con- 
sumption, even determined upon the whole earth." 

3 So that in regard to their, as also to our, solar system of creation, 
with all its illimitable extensions and multitudinous worlds and suns, there 
is not space in length for a man to stretch himself upon it, nor space in 
width as a covering, for a man to fold himself in it; and for the best of 
all reasons, because God created not the foundation. 

4 Marg. ref. 2 Sam. v. 20. " And David came to Baal-perazim, and 
David smote them there (the Philistines) and said, The Lord hath broken 
forth upon mine enemies, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called 
the name of that place Baal-perazim. (21.) And there they left their 
images (their orreries), and David and his men burnt them." They were 
more tasteful and fanciful than we are. Similarly to the Egyptians, they 
depicted various objects to show the intent of solar stability and rotated 
earth. 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ,. 19 

We now come to that peculiar verse, the 23rd, 
which incites all nations to the consideration of 
God's discreet providence : Give ye ear, and hear 

MY VOICE; HEARKEN, AND HEAR MY SPEECH." 

How concise ! and yet how capacious ! In fact, 
the entire covenant may be said to be comprised in 
that short sentence : for instance, although the call 
is, to hear, yet the intent is, to cause us to do, for 
that is the main object — the producing of faith 
and obedience to the Word, which would be the 
keeping of the covenant. 

We perceive that, according to the prophet 
Isaiah, there will be a repetition of that strange 
work and strange act recorded by Joshua, x. 12, 
regarding the standing still of the sun and the 
staying of the moon " until the people had avenged 
themselves upon their enemies." 

It may not be amiss here to recall to mind that 
" Gospel of the kingdom" which, according to 
Christ, " shall be preached in all the world for a 
witness unto all nations ;" and to bear in mind 
also what was the nature of that abomination of 
desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, and to 



20 



LETTER TO 



which Christ refers (Matt. xxiv. 15), — that is, the 
idols of the desolator on the battlements of the 
sanctuary, which oppose the principles on which the 
Holy sanctuary is founded agreeably to the pattern 
shown to Moses in the mount, and which, ac- 
cording to the apostle Paul, seems to bear a 
mechanic semblance to the internal organs of the 
body. Our Saviour being the builder, and ex- 
emplar, of course our bodies are analogous. St. 
Paul says to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. hi. 16, 17), 
" Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and 
that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any 
man defile the temple, him shall God destroy ; for 
the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 
Again, when speaking of the Gentiles as being no 
longer foreigners, the apostle says (Eph. ii. 19-22), 
" but ye are now fellow -citizens, and of the house- 
hold of God ; and are built upon the foundation 
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief corner-stone ; in whom all the 
building fitly framed together groweth unto an 
holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are 
builded together for an habitation of God through 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 21 

the Spirit." The royal Psalmist also, when me- 
ditating on the Divine precepts, exclaims, " I will 
behold thy presence in righteousness : and when I 
awake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with 
it." The likeness here spoken of, it should be 
observed, is regarded by some as spiritual only, — 
that is, as an expression of the moral perfection 
to be realized by the reverential observance and 
cultivation of the sublime attributes of divine grace. 
St. Paul likewise, in his epistle to the Hebrews, 
chapter ix., on the subject of the tabernacle, 
with " the rites and sacrifices of the law," con- 
cerning the sprinkling of blood, says, at verse 22, 
— " And almost all things are by the law sprinkled 
with blood ; and without sprinkling of blood is no 
remission. (23.) It was therefore necessary that 
the patterns of things in the heavens should be 
purified with these ; but the heavenly things them- 
selves with better sacrifices than these. (24.) For 
Christ is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but 
into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence 
of God for us. (25). Nor yet that he should offer 



22 LETTER TO 

himself often, as the high priest entereth into the 
holy place every year with the blood of others : 
(26.) For then must he often have suffered since 
the foundation of the world ; but now once in the 
end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin 
by the sacrifice of himself." 

Now it is to be remarked that St. Paul's account 
is plainly narrated, and his language devoid of 
metaphor : therefore, presuming on the inspiration 
of this eminent apostle, there can be no hesitation 
in our receiving the opinion, that the heavens, the 
dwelling-place of God, and the tabernacle, his 
dwelling-place on earth, correspond to one another. 
This seems to us to be clearly indicated in the 
passages which we have quoted. Thus, the apostle 
inquires — " What ! know ye not that ye are the 
temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth 
in you?" — and in another passage speaks of the 
nature of the building — "Jesus Christ himself being 
the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building 
fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple 
in the Lord ; in whom ye also are builded together 
for an habitation of God through the Spirit ! " Let 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 23 

us mark well this expression — "for an habitation 
of God through the Spirit!" Does it not clearly 
point to that mechanic semblance in the internal 
organs of the body of which we have spoken above ? 

The royal Psalmist, when musing also on the 
awful period of the resurrection, thus consoled 
himself as we find it written, and as we have 
already quoted,—" When I awake tip after thy 
likeness, I shall be satisfied with it;" showing that 
he was well aware of that peculiar transgression 
which changes the glory of man, of which the 
prophet Jeremiah speaks, and for which we are 
referred to the explanation : " Hath a nation 
changed their gods, which are yet no gods? 3 but 
my people have changed their glory for that which 
doth not profit." 

Reference q directs us to the 106th Psalm, 
vss. 19, 20. "They made a calf in Horeb," &c. 
" Thus they changed their glory into the similitude 
of an ox." And the Psalmist then proceeds to 
remind them, thus : " They forgat God then 
saviour, which had done great things in Egypt : 
wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible 



24 LETTER TO 

things by the Red Sea." For, in fact, as it is 
written, "in their hearts they turned back again 
into Egypt," by erecting the molten calf, or sun- 
surmounted pillar, for these are identically the same 
in meaning. To cite a long Hebrew definition in 
proof of this would be tedious : suffice it therefore 
to quote from Samuel, where he observes, "If ye 
do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then 
put away the strange gods, and Ashtoreth, from 
among you, and prepare your hearts unto the 
Lord, and serve him only : and he will deliver you 
out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the 
children did put away Baalim, and Ashtoreth, and 
served the Lord only." And Samuel entreated the 
Lord for Israel at that time because they had put 
away their Baalim and Ashtoreth, that is, their 
planetary systems, their calves. 5 

It must be here observed, that the victories 
obtained by one nation over another were chiefly 
(nay, I may say always) over that side which had 
transgressed in htbx Gilgal. hh% Galal signifies 



5 Circulators, representatives of the solar fire, as causing the revolution 
of the planets. 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 25 

to roll round ; but when the word is in reduplicate 
form, it denotes the intenseness of the action, 
Hence hzb% Gilgal is a complication of wheels, a 
planetary system. The prophet Hosea, when 
speaking of the distress and captivity of Israel for 
their sins and idolatry, and also for the judgments 
that were threatened against them, says, " All their 
offence was in Gilgal ; for there he hated them for 
the wickedness of then* doings *. I will drive you 
out of my house : I will love you no more." 

Here again we must reflect, that the house, i. e. 
the tabernacle or pattern of the heavens, is ever 
compared with the internal organs of the body when 
a certain transgression is the theme of the prophets. 



I have now to thank my correspondent for his 
very valuable present, the book entitled 'Egypt, 
her Testimony to the Truth of the Bible,' by 
William Osburn, jun. I have not as yet been 
able to devote so much attention to this important 
work as its theme demands, — partly from its very 
recent reception, but more particularly from in- 



26 LETTER TO 

disposition : it has nevertheless been so far in- 
vestigated as to establish a conviction, that time 
would be advantageously employed and rewarded 
by scrutinizing its valuable researches. The cha- 
racter of its numerous, varied, and excellently 
engraved sketches, symbolizing objects relative to 
war, such as war chariots with their warriors 
accoutred for the conflict, is displayed in the 
annexed Plate : in some others, the spear and 
shield, and other warlike instruments, are in- 
troduced ; and the whole may be correctly styled, 
Historical Sketches, or Port ray ings of the Objects 
used in the Wars of the Lord; which the author, 
in his laborious researches, has brought to tally 
with the periods of the wars relative to the 
different nations contending with each other as 
the Biblical records narrate ; and which, there- 
fore, prove that Egypt may be regarded as the 
' Testimony to the Truth. 3 Indeed, the further we 
proceed in this excellent work, the more we are 
constrained to acknowledge its veracity. This 
work, and the ' Geography of Arabia/ by the 
Rev. C, Forster, are, in my humble opinion, 




EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 27 

singularly rare and important; and, if I may be 
permitted to use the metaphor, in the Perihelion 
of Truth, i. e. in the Orbit of Divine Revelation. 
It may be further remarked, that the numerous 
sketches in Mr. Osburn's work prove the Israelites 
to have been proficients in the art of metallurgy : a 
quotation will afford conclusive proof of their skill. 

THE SERVICE OE THE TABERNACLE. 

"The record of the first ages of the world, 
contained in the Bible, ascribes the various arts 
of common life altogether to the Divine teaching. 
Though this is not formally stated, the expressions 
employed evidently assume it. The Lord God 
himself made the coats of skins with which our 
first parents were clothed on their expulsion from 
Paradise (Gen. hi. 21). The account of their sons 
and descendants also, which follows, speaks at once 
of their occupations : ' Abel was a feeder of sheep, 
and Cain a tiller of the ground' (Gen. iv. 2), at 
a period too early to have allowed the slow pro- 
cesses of invention and application time to have 
originated these pursuits. It is also said of certain 



28 LETTER TO 

of the descendants of the latter, that Jabal was 
'the father of the dwellers in tents, having herds 
of great cattle,' Pftptt ; that Jubal, his brother, was 
( the father of all such as handle the pipe and 
organ;' and that Tubal-cain was 'the instructor 
of all artificers in brass and iron 5 (Gen. iv. 19, 22). 
The mode of expression employed here, excludes 
the idea of invention. Jabal and Jubal and Tubal- 
cain were the fathers of their respective crafts, in 
the sense in which Abraham was afterwards called 
' the father of all them that believe.' The epithet 
does not imply that Abraham was the originator 
of faith, but that a large measure of that gift of 
God had been imparted to him (Rom. iv. 11, 12). 
It is, moreover, the express teaching of the Bible, 
that even excellence in these mechanical arts is a 
Divine gift (see Exod. xxx. 1-5) ; and if their 
mere use and application be from God, it will 
follow by necessary consequence, a fortiori, that 
God must be the author of them. 

" This our view is still further confirmed by its 
perfect accordance with one of the fundamental 
canons of Scripture truth j for the whole revelation 



CHARLES EMP80N, ESQ. 29 

rests upon the doctrine, 'that every good gift and 
every perfect gift,' whether relating to this world 
or that which is to come, whether bearing upon 
time or eternity, 1 is from above' (James i. 17). 

" The passages we have considered seem to imply 
that the mechanical arts were taught to mankind as 
soon as they were wanted ; which would be imme- 
diately on the expulsion of our first parents from 
Paradise. Such an arrangement, which might also 
be inferred from the general benevolence of the 
dealings of God with man, appears still more evi- 
dently in the subsequent portions of the concise 
history of the first representatives of the human 
race, contained in the Bible. For example, the 
application of these arts to the building of the ark 
(Gen. vi. 14-16) is stated in terms which neces- 
sarily assume the universality of the knowledge of 
them. .... In the inspired account of the Exodus, 
the state of the mechanical arts in Egypt at that 
period is frequently referred to. The tombs of 
Egypt, still in existence, are many of them contem- 
poraneous with that event; and the operations of 
these arts are the subjects of many of the paintings 
with which their walls are covered, They will 



30 LETTER TO 

therefore afford us a perfectly authentic illustration 
of this portion of Scripture.* 

" Immediately upon the redemption of the Is- 
raelites from the house of their bondage, they were 
required to dedicate to their Almighty Deliverer 
some portion of the wealth of which they had spoiled 
their oppressors, and of the mechanical skill which 
had been taught them in the course of their hard 
servitude. ' And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring 
me an offering : of every man that giveth it willingly 
with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this 
is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and 
silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins 
died red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood, oil 
for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet 
incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set in the 
ephod, and in the breast -plate. And let them 
make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among 

* " Nothing that remains of these remote periods conveys so vivid an 
idea of the luxury and refinement of the ancient Egyptians as the repre- 
sentations of the thrones of the Pharaohs which occur in the tomb of 
Ramesses IV., who reigned during the sojourn in the wilderness (see 
Plate). Such combinations of extreme elegance of form with extreme 
richness of material are not to be found in the palace of any crowned 
king now in existence." — Egypt; her Testimony, 8fc, p. 208. 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 31 

them' (Exod. xxv. 1-8). In this passage the 
various substances required for the service of the 
tabernacle are arranged in the following order : — 
1. metals ; 2. wool, hair, and flax; 3. leather; 
4. wood; 5. oils and spices; 6. precious stones. 
This arrangement is perfectly lucid and com- 
modious : we therefore at once adopt it. 

"There are many tombs in Egypt coeval with 
or earlier than the Exodus, having paintings on 
their walls representing the arts of working these 
substances. The Israelites had been 430 years 
in Egypt at the time of their departure ; having 
passed more than one-half of this period in the 
condition of household slaves, by whom, exclusively, 
all the operations of the mechanical arts were per- 
formed in Egypt. They would, therefore, be 
compelled to acquire skill in them, for the benefit 
of their masters, in the manner in which they 
practised them : so that, most probably, the 
pictures in these tombs illustrate, with entire 
fidelity, the mode in which the arts were applied 
by the builders of the tabernacle in the wilderness. 
The uses to which the metals 



3.2 LETTER TO 

were to be put in the service of the sanctuary 
would have taxed the skill of smiths of any age ; 
so that the existence of great proficiency in the 
arts of metallurgy among the Israelites is implied 
in the inspired account of its construction. The 
ark, which was made of wood, was to be overlaid 
with gold, and to have a crown, or raised 
and richly- wrought border ("^), round about it 
(Exod. xxv. 10-14). The table for the shewbread 
(ver. 23-28) and the altar of incense (xxx. 1-6) 
were to be made after the same fashion. The 
staves, also, by which all these vessels were 
carried, were to be covered with plates of gold, 
and attached to them by means of rings, cast 
solid, of the same precious metal (ver. 12, 26, 
&c). The golden cherubim, which overshadowed 
the mercy-seat on the ark, were of beaten work 
rWpD (ver. 18). This was also the case with the 
candlestick, its branches, its ornaments, its lamps, 
and its other instruments (ver. 31-39). 

"There can be no doubt that these several pro- 
cesses of overlaying, casting, and beating with the 
hammer, were executed with great skill and dex- 



The forur of the Tkberiia.de . 




CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 33 

terity. The completion of this portion of the 

service of the tabernacle was intrusted to two of the 

princes of the congregation (see 1 Chron. ii. 20), 

Bezaleel, the son of Uri, and Aholiab, the son of 

Ahisamach ; of whom it was declared, that God 

himself had filled them with His own Spirit ' in 

understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner 

of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work 

in gold, and in silver, and in brass ' (Exod. xxxi. 

2-4, &c). All these sacred vessels were likewise to 

be made after the pattern of the temple in heaven, 

which had been shown in vision to Moses in the 

mount. ' According to all that I shew thee, after 

the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all 

the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it ' 

(Ex. xxv. 9), is the divine injunction with which 

the directions for making these vessels commence ; 

and it is repeated at the conclusion — c Look that 

thou make them after their pattern, which was 

shewed thee in the mount' (ver. 40). The proofs 

of the existence of such skill, from contemporary 

monuments in Egypt, whence the Israelites had 

just departed, are, we conceive, of equal value, 

c 



34 LETTER TO 

whether they be considered as illustrations of the 
sacred text, or as confirmations of its verity." 

Rarely, indeed, do we meet with recitals similar 
to the above in the volumes of learned authors; 
and highly gratifying it is to be thus supported in 
our own views regarding the pattern (and signifi- 
cance/) of the sacred Sanctuary. The inspired 
St. Paul likewise coincides, and expressly adds, 
" Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost which is in you?" (1 Cor. vi. 19.) 
" And the temple of God is Heaven" Hence we 
may reasonably adopt the belief, that the temple, 
the vestments of the high priest, and the human 
body, agreeably to Holy Writ, are of one similitude. 

Our author, when speaking of the Canaanitish 
Gods, written in Hieroglyphics on the Temples 
op Egypt, says, regarding hy2 Baal or Bel, " his 
name was determined by an ass, the symbol of 
Seth, the evil principle, to denote his foreign 
origin ; but he was accounted so powerful a god 
that the Pharaohs often invoked him, and wished 
to enlist him in their cause ; see 1 Kings xviii. 27." 
Here we read, " And it came to pass at noon, that 




GOLDEN VASE SUPPORTED BY TWO PHILISTINES, 
Front, & Tvclwr& in Hies TornJb of Rouj]s5t6 IT, . 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 35 

Elijah mocked them, (i. e. the prophets of Baal, 
which were four hundred and fifty,) and said, Cry 
aloud, for he is a god : either he is talking, or he 
is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure 
he sleepeth, and must be awaked." The Baal, the 
sun - surmounted pillar, made no reply, although 
his followers cut themselves and cried aloud ; the 
ass possessed no power to save his devotees from 
being slain : " Elijah brought them down to the 
brook Kishon, and slew them there." And thus 
the Lord's altar of earth, emblem of stability, ob- 
tained the victory in the system of creation, agree- 
ably to the sacred records ! 

We have now but little more to notice in Mr. 
Osburn's learned work, from our inability to follow 
the author as clearly as we could desire through 
the difficult process of investigation into the mean- 
ing of the numerous hieroglyphics it contains. The 
judgment of so able and laborious a writer may 
perhaps be regarded as beyond the reach of doubt, 
and his conclusions be reasonably entitled to de- 
ferential reception ; but still there is a pleasurable 
satisfaction in being enabled to follow throughout 



36 LETTER TO 

the train of argument in a subject of which the 
nature is so peculiarly intricate. We may however 
notice a passage which occurs at page 160, in the 
list of places in Judaea conquered by Pharaoh 
Shishak, where the author says, with reference to 
No. 57, "Probably ptrrna Beth-Rimmon, the 
house of Rimmon ; or Beer-Rimmon. Some place 
in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem consecrated to 
the worship of the idol Rimmon. Or it may be 
D*>D INI the well of water." 

The first conjecture appears to be the most 
correct, as we nowhere find an idol denominated 
" well of water" But in the second book of Kings 
there is an account of one Naaman, a captain of the 
Syrian king's host, which narrative leads us to 

Rimmon, the Syrian Idol. 
Unfortunately there is no illustration of Beth- 
Rimmon in my ancient Bible : the narrative must 
therefore suffice. 

We must first quote from Parkhurst, thus : 
"As a noun pto*i the pomegranate, tree and fruit. 
(Numb. xiii. 23 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 2, and al. freq.) It 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 37 

seems to have derived its name from the strong 
projection, or reflection of light, either from the 
fruit, or from the star-like flower with its six leaves 
or rays at the top of the fruit." Much more is 
added on the subject with regard to the bells and 
"pomegranates which were ordered to be fixed on 
the skirt of Aaron's robe," &c.; but as these have 
no reference to the idol Rimmon, we quote no 
further on that subject, but proceed to his definition 
of "pDI Rimmon: a Syrian idol, mentioned 
2 Kings v. 18. Mr. Hutchinson (Trim of Gent, 
p. 305) thinks it collectively expresses the fixed 
stars, and the reflectioji or streams of light from 
them ; and assigns the following as a reason : ' the 
inhabitants passing the nights in summer on the 
house-tops, without any other covering than the 
canopy of heaven — that these circumstances must 
have greatly contributed to an enthusiastic, and in 
consequence an idolatrous, admiration of those 
splendid orbs among the Syrians' " 

Parkhurst then proceeds to tell us, that " Achilles 
Tatius mentions an ancient temple at Pelusium 
(in Egypt), in which was a statue of the deity 



38 LETTER TO 

styled Zeus (i. e. Jupiter) Casius, holding his mys- 
terious fruit (the pomegranate) in his hand. We 
may hence infer that he was upon Mount Casius 
worshipped in the same attitude ; and the god 
Bimmon, mentioned in the sacred writers, was 
probably represented in the like manner." — "Thus 
Mr. Bryant," he says, ('New System, 5 vol. ii. 
p. 381,) "adds, that it is not improbable that the 
idol Bimmon, whatever it was, might, as in other 
instances (Com. under 'ih'D vi. vii.), be denomi- 
nated from the mystical insignia which he bore." 

We require no further information. There re- 
mains not the shadow of a doubt that the statue 
mentioned by Achilles Tatius may be classed with 
Nisroch, Bel, and Solomon's Diastrodoxon. They 
may be illustrated by different forms and insignia, 
but their ideal meanings are, in every particular, 
the same. The six stars or planets held in the 
hand of Solomon's idol are represented in the 
statue mentioned by Achilles Tatius by the " star- 
like six leaves or rays" emblems of the "strong 
projection or reflection of light." They correspond, 
as before observed, with the six stars or planets 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 39 

held in the hand of King Solomon's idol : the 
statue in both cases, being the Molech or solar ruler, 
formed the complement of a solar system. 

It may be objected that the last syllable of 
Diastrodoxon does not correspond with the human 
form. In my little volume entitled ' Observations 
on a Memoir of the late Mr. Howell' an ex- 
planation is given ; but in regard to the word ox 
or oxen the definition was wanting, which may be 
here added. In Chaldee, the word "Yiri Tor sig- 
nifies a bull, which is originally derived from the 
Hebrew TVtt? 6 Shor (a deflection from the same 
radix), signifying a bull or beeve ; the bull being 
a leader or chief of oxen, as a prince is the leader 
or chief among men. So that, though the statue 
may be, to all appearance, of human form, yet, 
when erected as a solar ruler and fixture, it hy- 
pothetically shows the system of creation to be on 
those principles which not only deny the Word 
of God, but are opposed to ocular demonstration 
on that point ; and therefore, with great propriety, 



6 The letter (T) being frequently used in the Chaldee language 
instead of ^ (i. e. the letter S) without making any alteration in meaning. 



40 LETTER TO 

these are denominated in Scripture " the calves of 
the people-." it also elucidates the Psalmist's 
singular announcement, — " They made a calf in 
Horeb : thus they changed their glory into the 
similitude of an ox." How different the pious 
King ! When touching on the reverse, he happily, 
peacefully, and exultingly exclaims, — " / will be- 
hold thy presence in righteousness ; and when I 
aioake up after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with 
it — that is, he would behold the presence of his 
Creator in the firm belief, that his word and his 
ivorks, in the volume of the skies, declare the truth. 

After this disgression, and, finally, having found 
a statue for the pomegranate, we will proceed to 
find a house, in the 2nd book of Kings, for 
Rimmon, the Syrian Idol. And first we may 
remark, that the speculative spirit of the Syrians 
was not unmindful of the alluring construction 
of the splendid and fiery pomegranate flower. 
They built a house, or Beth, for Rimmon, where 
the Syrian king occasionally retired, to contemplate 
the beauties of that system of the heavens which 
his own device had derived from the pomegranate. 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 41 

We have now to refer to the narrative regarding 
Naanian. 

Naaman, the captain of the Syrian king's host, 
was a man who stood high in favour with his 
master, — "Because by him the Lord had given 
deliverance unto Syria : he was also a mighty man 
in valour, but he was a leper. And the Syrians 
had gone out by companies, and had brought 
away captive out of the land of Israel a maid; 
and she waited on Naaman's wife. And the maid 
said unto her mistress, Would to God my lord 
were with the prophet that is in Samaria ! for he 
would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in 
and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus saith the 
maid who is of the land of Israel. And the king of 
Syria said, Go, and I will send a letter unto the king 
of Israel. And he departed, and brought the letter 
to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter 
is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent 
Naaman my servant unto thee, that thou mayest 
recover him of his leprosy. And it came to pass 
when the king of Israel had read the letter, that 
he rent his clothes, and said, Am I a God, to kill 



42 LETTER TO 

and make alive, that this man doth send unto 
me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore 
consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a 
quarrel against me. Now when Elisha the man 
of God had heard that the king of Israel had 
rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, 
Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him 
come unto me, and he shall know that there is 
a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his 
horses and his chariot, and stood at the door of 
Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, 
saying, Go wash in Jordan seven times, and thy 
flesh shall come again unto thee, and thou shaft 
be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, 
and said, I thought he would surely come out to 
me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord 
his God, and strike his hand over the place, and 
recover the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, 
rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of 
Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? 
So he turned and went away in a rage. And his 
servant came near and spake unto him, and said, 
My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 43 

great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? how 
much rather then, when he saith unto thee, Wash 
and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped 
himself seven times in Jordan, according to the 
saying of the man of God : and his flesh came 
again, and he was clean. Then Naaman said, 
Behold, now I know that there is no God in all 
the earth, but in Israel : now therefore, I pray 
thee, take a blessing of thy servant. But he said, 
As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I *will 
receive none. And Naaman said, Shall there not 
then, I pray thee, be given unto thy servant two 
mules' burden of earth ? for thy servant will hence- 
forth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto 
other Gods, but unto the Lord!' 

It is natural to ask why Naaman sought as a 
gift an article apparently attainable at every step 
he took. Ancient writers remark, that in the days 
of old, Judaea's peaceful soil was estimable beyond 
compare, and was therefore sought for pious pur- 
poses; so that Naaman, newlg standing not only 
as the servant of the Lord, but also bearing those 
immediate recompenses, the full reward in con- 



44 



LETTER TO 



sequence of his faith, craved a double burden of 
Judaea's treasurable earth, to build an altar to his 
God, to found, to fasten, and perform that act which 
made manifest his faith. He proceeds to say : "In 
this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when 
my master goeth into the house of Bimmon, to 
worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and 
I bow myself in the house of Bimmon : When I 
bow down myself in the house of Bimmon, the 
Lord pardon thy servant in this thing." 

This healing and conversion of Naaman was 
on record in Heaven, according to our Saviour's 
own declaration; for although the circumstances 
which happened to the Syrian king's dependent 
occurred full 890 years prior to the birth of our 
Lord, he nevertheless mentions them when dis- 
coursing on the subject of the evil spirit being cast 
out : " And many lepers were in Israel in the time 
of Elisha the prophet; and none of them were 
cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." 

We find that it was a rare occurrence, even in 
ancient times, to deviate from the solar path : but, 
being recorded by undeniable lips, it makes manifest 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 45 

the light in which our adherence to a certain 
species of speculative science is viewed by our 
future Judge. In sacred writ, the names of men, 
of places, of rivers, and even of diseases, have a 
reference to things beyond their obvious meaning ; 
and we find the same subject again touched upon 
when Elisha said unto Naaman, after he was 
cleansed, "Go thy way in peace;" but when he 
had gone a little way, Gehazi, the servant of 
Elisha, followed him, saying that his master had 
sent him for two talents of silver and two changes 
of garments, which Naaman willingly gave up. 
And Gehazi bare them away in secret, and after- 
wards went and stood before his master. " And 
Elisha said unto him, Whence earnest thou, Gehazi? 
And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And 
Elisha said unto him, Went not mine heart with 
thee, when the man turned again from his chariot 
to meet thee? — The leprosy therefore of Naaman 
shall cleave unto thee, and to thy seed for ever. 
And Gehazi went out from his presence a leper 
white as snow." 

When Miriam was rebuked in the sanctuary on 



40 LETTER TO 

account of sedition, the leprosy was her punish- 
ment. And when Uzziah trespassed in the same 
place, the leprosy was also his infliction. We may 
likewise call to mind the winged globe, that emblem 
of a peculiar transgression, which, when converted 
into a scourge, became, whithersoever it entered, a 
most fearful desolator. 

With regard to the toinged globe, I was led to 
imagine, when Mr. Osburn's work was presented, 
that it contained a full account of that object ; and 
was therefore surprised to find that it was not 
mentioned in the book, and that not even a sketch 
of it was given. The winged object figured on the 
title-page, the same which is invariably seen 
hovering over the military heroes in their war 
chariots, is not the toinged globe, but the Agatho- 
demon, styled in Mr. Belzoni's work, and figured in 
his plates, as the protecting or good spirit. The 
one herewith figured is taken from Plate 19. It is 
precisely similar in shape, but differently coloured, 
to that in Mr. Osburn's book, to which, if that 
author's fine historical sketches truly illustrate the 
wars recorded in the Bible, — their periods, and the 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 47 

nations with whom they were waged, — as they cer- 
tainly (from the results of the author's indefatigable 
labours) appear to do, — his title - page, — ' Egypt, 
her Testimony to the Truth 1 is aptly applied. 

The Agathodemon found in the tombs of the 
kings of Thebes at Ipsambul by Belzoni, in the 
year 1820, was the covering of an idolatrous, 
astronomical, and sinful temple, as the prophet 
remarked concerning the rebellious children, that 
cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, saith 
the Lord ; and that walk to go down into Egypt, 
to add sin unto sin. It is indeed quite evident from 
the above announcement of the prophet Isaiah 
(xxx. 1, 2), that the Agathodemon of the temple 
described by Belzoni is connected with those statues 
containing the elements, causing a change of glory 
(metaphorically described) as detrimental to man- 
kind. We are therefore justified in inferring, that 
since all that can be collected from the Egyptian 
tombs which accords with the Biblical records, must 
of necessity be true ; so likewise all those things 
which concur with the Biblical account regarding 
the main transgression, — the transgression of the 



48 



LETTER TO 



wilderness — the molten calf, must be equally good 
evidence with respect to falsehood ! 

It is somewhat singular, that among Belzoni's 
plates there is not a single sketch of a war chariot, 
or any of those sketches which prove the Israelites 
to have been adepts in the art of metallurgy, which 
are so numerously introduced in Mr. Osburn's 
work ; and this shows the tombs to have been very 
variously decorated. Hieroglyphics, of course, were 
plentiful in all of them, and must have had some 
signification, and were therefore important to some 
useful end. The value of the labours of Cham- 
pollion and Young is, in my humble opinion, 
far exceeded by those of Mr. Osburn. Indeed, 
Mr. Osburn's work, and the Rev. C. Forster's 
publication entitled * The Historical Geography of 
Arabia' are to me a library on these subjects ; and 
although I may not be competent to fathom their 
merits, equally with those who are conversant with 
a variety of languages, I have nevertheless had 
great pleasure in my humble endeavours to reap 
benefit from a perusal of the valuable information 
which they contain. They are precious articles 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 49 

in the present day, when the world abounds in 
illustrations of the Donkey system of the Universe. 
By the way, we have not, of late, heard much 
praise of Lord Rosse's famous and gigantic tele- 
scope, since, according to newspaper report, Sir 
James South, by its aid, found the moon to be 
of a transparent nature, — a formidable and fearful 
discovery ! by which the loss of one Newtonian 
toorld is inevitable. Neither is this all, as, by 
analogy, the roundness of the stars, and their pale 
colour, similar to that of the moon, would lead to 
the inference that they are of the same nature as 
that body, — and hence, unless they can be proved 
to be made of other than crystaline materials, 
farewell to the theory of the Solar System, as it 
is utterly impossible for human nature to exist 
where neither soil nor earth can be ! 

How just were the prophet Isaiah's remarks 
on the system founded on the molten calf; of 
which, metaphorically speaking, he says, that 
neither line nor plummet, that is, judgment nor 
righteousness, formed any part of it ; so that 
neither bed nor wrapper, in consequence of the 

D 



50 LETTER TO 

absurdity and apostacy of such un scriptural build- 
ing, could be found for the comfort of man, — 
alluding to its incompetency to bestow the pro- 
mised heavenly rest! 

Now, lest it should be surmised that we cannot 
bring forward any learned or respectable autho- 
rity which coincides with our own sentiments 
regarding the baneful tendency of the Newtonian 
theory of the solar system, we adduce the fol- 
lowing. 

Mr. Thomas Baker, the learned antiquary, — 
who was educated and resided in the same Uni- 
versity from which Newton's mysterious notions 
were promulgated, — in his admirable book entitled 
'Reflections upon Learning,' &c, which he pub- 
lished about fifteen or twenty years previous to 
Newton's death, makes the following remarks 
upon the doctrine of attraction : 

"Another incomparable person, who has added 
mathematical skill to his observations upon nature, 
after the nicest inquiry, seems to resolve all 
into attraction ; which, though it may be true 
and pious withal, perhaps will not be tliouyJit so 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 51 

pJdlosopJiical. The truth of it is, we may as well 
rest there, for, after all, gravitation was never 
yet solved, and possibly never may ; and after men 
have spent a thousand years longer in these in- 
quiries, they may perhaps sit down at last under 
attraction, or may be content to resolve all 
into the power of the Providence of God. And 
might not that be done as well now? We know 
little of the causes of things, but may see wisdom 
enough in every thing : and could we be content 
to spend as much time in contemplating the wise 
ends of Providence, as we do in searching into 
causes, it would certainly make us better men, 
and, I am apt to think, no worse philosophers." 

The pious and learned Dr. Scott, a few years 
after Newton's decease, saw with wonderful clear- 
ness the atheistical tendency of his imaginary 
system, and, with indignant feelings, gave expres- 
sion to the following sentiments : 

" Our celebrated philosopher, whose system I 
have now under consideration, hath in contradic- 
tion to, and therefore in contempt of, (for culpable 
ignorance doth not excuse men from contempt of 



52 LETTER TO 

God's Word,) the divinely revealed and demon- 
stratively true Word of God, set forth in the 
Holy Scriptures, most audaciously presumed to 
ascribe to imaginary and unknown, and incon- 
ceivable and improbable, and therefore incredible 
causes, those phenomena in nature, whose true, 
real, and sensibly evident, and self-sufficient cause, 
God hath been graciously pleased most clearly by 
revelation and representation, to point out to us 
in his Holy Scriptures ; and by so doing, hath 
imposed upon the world not only a most false 
and useless, and unprofitable, but a spiritually 
injurious system, as will by -and -by be made 
most clearly and evidently to appear : whereas, 
had he chosen to have consulted and considered 
the divine revelations set forth in the Holy 
Scriptures, when he was about to assign the 
causes of the phenomena in nature, and to have 
been applauded rather for pointing out and re- 
viving and restoring to the world those most 
ancient and beneficial, but greatly neglected and 
long overlooked, divinely revealed truths, con- 
cerning the causes of tire phenomena in nature, 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 53 

than for having been an inventor and discoverer 
of new, unintelligible, and false and unmechanical, 
instrumental causes of natural effects, he would 
have left a truer and more useful system of natural 
philosophy to the world, by which his memory 
would have been perpetuated with gratitude and 
justly acquired praise in all succeeding ages of 
the world; although his statue might not have 
found a place among theirs who have eminently, 
but vainly, laboured to raise natural religion upon 
the ruins of that which is spiritual and divinely 
revealed." 

There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of 
Newton's confession in the latter part of his life, 
— " that he had been amusing himself with trifles, 
while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered 
before him because, as Dr. Scott remarks in 
another place, he ascribed the phenomena in nature 
"to unknown and inconceivable and improbable, 
and therefore incredible causes, whose existence 
in nature cannot possibly be shown, and whose 
attractions and other actions at immense distances 
cannot possibly be either sensibly or rationally 



54 



LETTER TO 



accounted for : notwithstandiDg he, by the help 
of hypotheses which he hath vainly attempted to 
support by experimental and other phenomena, 

hath laboured to prove their existence ; 

and by which we likewise clearly perceive how 
he hath prostituted and abused mathematics, in 
order to introduce false and unmechanical physics, 
by substituting mathematical signs, lines, numbers, 
and diagrams, (which are only significant, and 
realities, when they are made to signify and re- 
present real physical or natural things,) to signify 
and represent powers and properties which have 
no existence in nature, and inferring the existence 
of real physical things from non-entities, — the 
existence of something from nothing ; and all this 
great, but fruitless labour and pains, he hath been 
at for many years, to support the credit of a 
most unnatural and incredible and false philoso- 
phical romance." 

He further adds : "By our philosopher's false 
and unscriptural account of the material and visible 
heavens, the sanctifying and saving faith upon 
which the good morals of mankind are altogether 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 55 

founded would have been effaced and obliterated 
out of the minds of men, if his account had been 
universally believed :" and, " that his system of 
natural philosophy hath done more hurt in the 
world, than all the systems of physics published 
by the Gentile philosophers taken together, that 
have come down to us, have ever done." 7 

It is not possible for language to be couched 
in stronger terms than the above, when denouncing 
that apostate theory of the system of the Sun. The 
Antiquary, and the Doctor of Divinity, with many 
others of later date, might be further quoted in 
support of our opinions ; but the present will 
suffice to show in what light, by a steady con- 
templation of God's Word, our modern philosophy 
is to be viewed. 



I have just received your Peruvian friend Don 
Pablo Vivero's present of Mr. Gliddon's ' Lectures 
on Ancient Egypt, 5 with its numerous hierogiy- 



7 Extracted from ' The Holy Scriptural Doctrine of the Divine Trinity,' 
&c, by John Scott, D.D., London, 1734. 



56 LETTER TO 

phics, published at New York, 1843. This gift 
will be long held in remembrance, not only from 
the prompt manner in which it was presented 
after that gentleman had heard of my devotedness 
to such subjects, but also from its rarity. There 
might not be another copy in England ; and, even 
if there were, it might not be seen by me. It is 
therefore a treasure, as it affords me an oppor- 
tunity of comparison with Mr. Osburn's work on 
a similarly important hieroglyphical subject. 

Mr. Gliddon's work is one which requires strict 
application in its perusal, on account of the nume- 
rous and intricate meanings of the hieroglyphical 
characters. I have, however, so far appreciated 
the tenor of its arguments as to be able to point 
out the difference which exists between Mr. Os- 
burn's ideas and those of Mr. Gliddon, as to 
whereon the truth is founded, whether it be em- 
bodied in the sacred records, or, under the pyra- 
midal tombs of the Pharaohs. 

With regard to the former writer, it has already 
been shown that he has earnestly endeavoured to 
exhibit the accordance of the warlike sketches 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 57 

which have been drawn from the hieroglyphical 
symbols not only with the exact periods of time, 
but also with the characteristics of the very nations 
against which we know from the Sacred records 
that the force of such armaments was directed; 
and I have felt pleasure in pointing out his defer- 
ence to the inspired remark of St. Paul, that the 
holy places made with hands were the figures of the 
true. It may then be averred, that Mr. Osburn's 
ideas and belief are, that truth is founded in Holy 
Writ. 

Of Mr. Gliddon s and of Mr. Osbum's car- 
touches I have only been able to comprehend a 
few to my own satisfaction : it is therefore not for 
me, incompetent to follow these learned interpreters 
of hieroglyphics, to say that they are incorrect. In 
fact, I am of opinion that these characters were 
originally designed for instruction ; and, if so, in 
God's own time the power will be given to man to 
remove obscurity, and to diffuse their meaning. 
Mr. Gliddon' s work is very elaborate; but a few 
quotations will exhibit its tendency, and point out 
the path to which it directs us in search of truth. 



58 LETTER TO 

"THE OLD EGYPTIAN CHRONICLE. 
1st.— Reign of the Gods — or Aurit^e — Antediluvian Years. 
period ? Barbarismus ? 
To Hephaestus — Vulcan — Pthah, the Creator — is assigned 

no time, as he is apparent both by day and night . . 00,000 
Helius — the Sun — the son of Hephaestus — reigned three 

myriads of years, equivalent to 30,000 

Cronus, and the other twelve Divinities, reigned together . 3,984 

Gods reigned — years . . 33,984 
2nd. — Reign of the Demi-Gods — or Mestr^eans — Post- 
diluvian period — Scythismus ? 
The eight kings — Demi-Gods — (or Mizraimites ?) reigned 

together 217 

3rd. — Reign of Men — or Egyptians — Hellenismus? 

The 15 generations (families, dynasties, or royal houses?) 
comprised in the Cynic Cycle — or Sothic period — 

reigned 443 

The remaining 15 dynasties of kings — commencing 
with the 16th dynasty and ending with the 30th 
dynasty — reigned together . . . . .1881 

Egyptians reigned 2,324 

Years . . . 36,525 
These years 36,525 — end before Christ, 359. 

Mr. Gliddon says, "the upper table (alluding 
to the one here given) is a reduction of the c Old 
Egyptian Chronicle/ preserved to us by Syncellus. 
This appears to be a succinct compilation, made in 
Egypt about the reign of Nashtenebf, of the 30th 
dynasty, say b. c. 359. I have already explained, 
that the 'reign of the gods' refers possibly to our 
antediluvian period, when those heresies, termed by 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 59 

the Fathers of the Church barbarismus, seem to have 
been first introduced. This heterodoxy they ex- 
plained, as evinced by the fact, ' that then men had 
no rulers ;' and that their impiety and insubordi- 
nation brought down upon them the vengeance of 
the Most High, and the obliteration of all mankind 
save Noah's family. It is conjectured, that the 
first two reigns refer to those events anteceding 
the creation of man, which enter into the category 
of geological periods, of which it seems the Hiero- 
phants had some knowledge ; in confirmation of 
which, the names of the gods themselves lend some 
feeble glimmer ; for Cronus is ' time immeasur- 
able and Vulcan, who is our Pthah, typifies ' the 
creative power ' of the Almighty. When Solon, 
the Athenian lawgiver, discoursed with the Egyp- 
tian sages about those events which had happened 
to the Pelasgic Greeks, such as the traditions con- 
cerning the first Phoroneus, and Niobe, and the 
deluge of Deucalion and Pyrrha, one of the most 
venerable of the sacerdotal ancients exclaimed, ' O 
Solon, Solon ! you Greeks are always children ; nor 
is there such a thing as an aged Grecian among 



60 LETTER TO 

you. All your souls are juvenile ; neither contain- 
ing any ancient opinion derived from remote tra- 
dition, nor any discipline hoary from its existence 
in former periods of time. You mention one 
Deluge only ; whereas many happened ! ' The re- 
maining twelve divinities relate, probably, to the 
line from Adam to Noah. 

" The ' reign of the demi-gods ' is probably the 
period from Noah to the accession of Menes ; in- 
cluding the primitive colonization of Egypt, and 
the theocratical government, termed by the Fathers 
Scythismus, in reference to the apostacy of man, the 
confusion of Babel, &c. 

" The ' reign of men ' begins with Menes, and the 
Pharaonic monarchy — termed also by the Fathers 
Hettenismus, on account of the spread of idolatrous 
paganism, in which Terah, the father of Abraham, 
seems to have participated. Yet, if exceptions to 
such idolatry existed in those primeval days, they 
will be found in ' the order of Melchisedek,' and 
among the initiated in Egyptian mysteries/' 

We have now cited the opinions of two of the 
most competent authors on hieroglyphical subjects ; 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 61 

the one, bringing them to bear on, and to coincide 
with, the Biblical records, — the other, to accord 
with the temple of Amnion, the covert of the idola- 
trous molten calf, and to prove that there alone is 
to be found the Oracle of Truth ! As to plST^D 
(Malkee-tzedek) my righteous king, so far is this 
designation from according with that transgressing 
temple, that the very names of those who persist in 
adopting its science are in clanger of being struck 
out of the book of life. The Saviour of the world 
thus announceth, in the words of St. John, Rev. iii. 
5 : "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed 
in white rayment ; and I will not/' blot out his 
name out of the book of life, but I will confess his 
name before my Father, and before his angels." 

Reference »\ Ex. xxxii. 32. " Yet now, if thou 
wilt," saith Moses, " forgive their sin (alluding 
to the erection of the molten calf) ; and if not, 
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou 
hast written, (ver. 33.) And the Lord said unto 
Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him 
will I blot out of my book." 

Moses might not possess the power that wealth 



62 LETTER TO 

bestows equal to that of Pharaoh ; but under the 
direction of the Almighty, he possessed the power 
to spread dismay throughout the land of Egypt, — 
when God said, " Stretch forth thy hand toward 
heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of 
Egypt, even darkness that may be felt." This 
seems to have been accomplished even to the extin- 
guishing of their vaunted emblem of the sun (Book 
of Wisdom, xvii.), as "no power of the fire might 
give them light, neither could the bright flames of 
the stars endure to lighten that horrible night." — 
" As for the illusions of art magic, 8 they were put 
down, and their vaunting in wisdom was reproved 
with disgrace." — " They were all bound with one 
chain of darkness." Yet "the whole world sinned 
with clear light, and none were hindered in their 
labour : over them only was spread a heavy night, 
an image of that darkness which slioidd afterward 
receive them. " 

8 Art magic alludes to the casting of rods -which became serpents, 
when Aaron's rod stood confessed the true serpent for serpents, — housing 
Leviathan, prying the pryer in his deep recess, and dashing the system 
into atoms, — constraining even the magicians to exclaim, "This is the 
finger of God." 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 63 

Again we read, when Jehovah threateneth 
Egypt, — " I am going to visit Amnion of ±\o in 
wrath and desolation. Behold, I will punish the 
nourisher of Amnion, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, 
with their gods, and their kings, even Pharaoh, 
and all them that trust in him." 

Now, if the truth lay solely in Egypt and its 
temple, why should such tremendous threats and 
such awful calamities have been its doom? 

With regard to the reign of their gods, which, 
according to Mr. Glicldon's calculation, was 33,984 
years, this, if believed, is sufficient to obliterate 
our faith in the commandments of Gocl. And 
even these 33,984 years must be considered as a 
mere atom of time compared to the calculations of 
Professor Nichol, of Glasgow, in his work lately 
published under the title of ' Thoughts on some 
important Points relating to the System of the 
World, ' from which we make the following ex- 
tract : 

"The immensity of space and unimaginable 
magnitude of creation. — However potent the 
telescope, no man dare reckon that all things are 



64 LETTER TO 

taken in by its vision, or that it has penetrated 
to the outer battlements of the majestic stellar 
creation, any more than that previously all things 
were seen by his unassisted eye. Nay, the tele- 
scope itself, in every stage, has made very contrary 
declarations, and proclaimed how far it lingers 
behind a comprehension of the riches of existence, 
even in unfolding so unexpected wonders. What 
mean, for instance, those dim spots, which, un- 
known before, loom in greater and greater numbers 
on the horizon of every new instrument, unless 
they are gleams it is obtaining, on its own frontier, 
of a mighty infinite beyond, also studded with 
glories, and enfolding what is seen as a minute and 
subservient part ? Yes ! even the six-feet mirror, 
after its powers of distinct vision are exhausted, 
becomes, in its turn, simple as the child, gazing on 
these mysterious lights with awful and hopeless 
wonder. I shrink below the conception that here 
— even at this threshold of the attainable — bursts 
forth on my mind ! Look at the cloudy speck in 
Orion, visible without aid to the well-trained eye : 
tli at is a stellar universe of majesty altogether 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 65 

transcendent, lying at the verge of what is known. 
Well ! if any of these lights from afar, on which 
the six-feet mirror is now casting its longing eye, 
resemble in character that spot, the systems from 
which they come are situated so deep in space, that 
no ray from them could reach our earth, until after 
travelling through the intervening abyss, during 
centuries whose number stuns the imagination : 
there must be some regarding which that faint 
illumination informs us, not of their present ex- 
istence, but only that assuredly they were, and sent 
forth into the infinite the rays at present reaching 
us, at an epoch farther back into the past than this 
momentary lifetime of man, by at least thirty 
millions of years?' 

Surely the reign of the Egyptian demi-gods was 
a mere trifle compared with the calculations of our 
modern philosophizing speculators ; neither are we 
constrained to any definite period, as the account 
says " at least." Then, since (as before observed} 
the commandments of God are to be cast off, we 
might as well launch forth into extravagances still 
wilder than the above, and make the period for the 

E 



66 LETTER TO 

light of the stellar universe to be witnessed by us, 
thirty thousand millions of years " at least :" for, as 
none of our wild calculations are at all proveable, 
all that can be said is, and all that can be known is, 
that they suit the unimaginable magnitude of the 
hypothetical system of the universe. 

It is Geology and Astronomy that are ever so 
insatiable after Time ! Solon might have been a 
wise lawgiver; but he was deficient while in con- 
verse with the Egyptian priest, who pompously in- 
formed him of many deluges : had he but required 
to know, how many, at what intervals between, and 
when the last occurred, Egyptian knowledge might 
possibly have dwindled to nothing worth. 

Now when we reflect on that expression of our 
Saviour, — " He that overcometh," &c, some 
might suppose it alluded to the allurement of 
riches, and some might consider it referred to the 
pomps and vanities of the world, all of which we 
are exhorted not to value too much ; but, in the 
present instance, it was none of these things. No, 
in plain terms, it was the hypothesis of the System 
of Baal the Sun. Christ also (according to St. 



S.'MatAew cXXII.kXII . 



And lie said unto him, Friend, how earnest 
thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? 
And lie was speech! efs. 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. G7 

Matthew xxii.), when, at the marriage feast, he 
distinguished a man clothed in a garment unsuit- 
able to that peculiar occasion, addressed him thus : 
— " Friend, how earnest thou in hither, not having 
a wedding garment ? And he was speechless. Then 
said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and 
foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer 
darkness." 

This region of outer darkness affords the impor- 
tant information that the visible works possess the 
beauties of completion, as neither sun, moon, nor 
stars, can be, where light is not. Habakkuk, when 
speaking of the splendour of God, says, " His glory 
caps the heavens/' Then beyond that cap must be 
the region to which our Saviour alludes as the lot 
of the delinquent. Nothing can be more horrible 
in imagination than to be thrown into complete 
darkness ! We are not informed of the colour of 
the objected garment, but may presume it was not 
spotless. We recollect that in Belzoni's plates, 
where the Egyptian priests are represented offici- 
ating in their astronomical and religious rites, (for 
such was the intermingling of religious ceremonial 



68 LETTER TO 

with pretended science in those days, as it is in 
ours,) their garments are of leopards skins : they 
bear the badge of change of glory ! The pure white 
raiment spoken of by Jesus Christ was of lily 
brightness. We cannot do better at this point than 
to consult that sublime Psalm, the 45th: it is un- 
doubtedly dedicated to the glorious and brilliant 
Messiah, and all his merits are briefly Tjut fully 
explained by the word S*WW Shushannim, signi- 
fying lily, white, — the emblem of purity, pardon, 
and innocence, — gladness, salvation, joy, splendour, 
and wisdom. (Vide Job xii. 12; HMH D*»t£Wa 
Bishishim Chochmah, with the ancients is wisdom.) 
In this very sublime Psalm we find the difference 
drawn in the Hebrew text between the brilliancy of 
Egypt's Epiphanes and that of the Messiah ; and 
we therefore quote the first seven verses. It is 
addressed " To the chief Musician upon Shushan- 
nim," the merits of which are explained as above. 
" My heart is inditing a good matter : I speak of 
the things which I have made touching the king : 
my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art 
fairer than the children of men ; grace is poured 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 69 

into thy lips : therefore God hath blessed thee for 
ever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most 
Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in 
thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and 
meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand 
shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are 
sharp in the heart of the king's enemies ; whereby 
the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is 
for ever and ever : the sceptre of thy kingdom is 
a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and 
hatest wickedness : therefore God, thy God, hath 
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy 
fellows." 

The 6th verse is worthy of repetition : " Thy 
throne, O God, is for ever and ever ; the sceptre 
of thy kingdom is a rigid sceptre;" — pointedly 
distinguishing it from that of Egypt, or from any 
other. 



I have recently met with an extract from Mans- 
ford's 'Two Resurrections in their Relation to the 
Doctrine of Election,' which, though not imme- 



70 LETTER TO 

diately bearing on our present subject, I deem it 
necessary here to insert. 

"The Two Resurrections. — It is not my in- 
tention to add one to the number of those who 
have lost themselves, and perplexed their readers, 
in attempts to adapt the Divine purposes to human 
systems, or to try the import, or adjust the dis- 
crepancies, of such terms as the following : — Free- 
dom of the will — freedom of motive, freedom of 
contradiction, freedom of contrariety : Liberty — 
natural liberty, external liberty, philosophical liberty, 
liberty of indifference : Necessity — moral necessity, 
philosophical necessity, absolute necessity, relative 
necessity. Moral inability in connection with moral 
responsibility; Divine foreknowledge with the Divine 
decrees ; election with reprobation ; and reprobation 
with an impartial and discriminating justice. 

" However some persons may flatter themselves 
that they understand these metaphysical subtleties, 
or may persuade themselves that they can reconcile 
them, two inconvenient intruders will frequently 
present themselves : common sense ; which, in spite 
of system or precept, will be ever rebelling against 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 71 

conclusions extracted from premises in themselves 
incompatible, — and Scripture; which, while it re- 
veals, in terms not to be mistaken, the fact of an 
election of grace, says — ' Choose ye this day whom 
ye will serve.' — ' Why tvitt ye die, O house of 
Israel? 5 — ' Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.' — 
' Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.' — 
'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved.' — 'Whosoever will, let him take the water 
of life freely.' — 'Who will render to every man 
according to his deeds! 

" If man be not a free agent, not only for every 
purpose of moral accountability, but in his choice 
of life or death, these and similar Scriptures are 
a mockery. On the other hand, that there is an 
election of grace, and that a portion of the human 
race was elected by the foreknowledge and im- 
mutable decrees of God to eternal life, is incon- 
testable :— Matt. xx. 23; Rom. viii. 29, 30, 33, 
34 ; ix. 23 ; xi. 4-7 ; Eph. i. 3-6 ; 2 Thess. ii. 13; 
2 Tim. i. 9 ; 1 Peter i. 2. How can these things 
be? is a question which thousands have asked. 
Scripture seemed to give them no help in solving 



72 LETTER TO 

the difficulty ; and theologians and metaphysicians, 
in their proffered assistance, have but involved 
them in the mazes of a worse than Cretan labyrinth. 
One would suppose that a man (and many such 
there have been) distracted, agonized in this strait, 
would eagerly look out for, and as eagerly seize, 
the slightest Scripture hint of a method of escape, 
as a drowning man would grasp at a straw. But 
what if, having caught it, this straw should swell 
into a plank, capable of bearing him over all the 
billows on which he was tossed ? To say the least of 
it, then, and to give it but the straw's weight, such 
a hint there is ; and marvellous it is, considering 
the unceasing vigilance, and the promptitude of 
appropriation, which have ever marked the course 
of party controversy, that there it should have lain, 
floating before the eyes of all, and not one, so far 
as I am aware of, has thought it worth laying hold 
of. But once seized, the hint may grow into hope, 
and end in affording, if not a direct, a circum- 
stantial solution of the great problem. 

" It is, indeed, difficult to understand how some 
great controversialists, who have moved heaven and 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 73 

earth to establish their respective hypotheses, should 
have failed to ask themselves this plain question — 
Whether, seeing that the Scripture statements, 
respecting predestination and free will, are, at least 
according to their versions of them, incompatible — 
whether the things there said, are at all times, and 
in equal sense, spoken of the same parties ? And 
then to go on to inquire — Whether the Scriptures 
themselves may not in some other place have 
furnished a key to the mystery in question ? Had 
not the revelation of a first and second resurrection 
been almost banished from the church, and pre- 
cluded re -entrance by systems founded on its 
exclusion, these questions would not, perhaps, have 
now to be asked. But such being the case, this 
key may have been suffered to lie hid ; and on the 
bare conjecture, that, graciously to throw a light on 
this previously mysterious subject, was any part 
of the design of the Holy Spirit in giving this 
revelation, it is painful to contemplate the penalty 
which the church has paid, and is still paying, 
for the neglect of it." 

The numerous brief yet comprehensive quota- 



74 LETTER TO 

tions which Mr. Mansford has here brought forward 
from Scripture, fully prove that we are free to 
choose as to whether our own lot may not be upon 
an equal footing with those who have been favoured 
by an election of grace ; and, as he justly observes, 
" marvellous it is " that such choice " should have lain 
floating before the eyes of all" and yet unperceived 
by the controversialists, although vigilant and most 
earnest on that subject. 

A few of the verses from the several chapters 
to which he refers us may be here properly quoted, 
as they tend to elucidate the state of those to whom 
the happy lot fell under the election of grace. 

We take the 1st reference, Matt. xx. 23. "And 
he saith unto them, ye shall drink indeed of my 
cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am 
baptized with : but to sit on my right hand, and 
on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given 
to them for whom it is prepared of my Father." 
And here we may call to mind and repeat our 
Saviour's announcement, and the object to which it 
refers : " He that overcometh I will not blot out his 
name out of the book of life, but I will confess his 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 75 

name before my Father and before his angels!' 
This refers, we should remember, to the erection of 
the molten calf ; for which transgression Moses 
kindly offered to stand in the breach, and be 
blotted out of God's book, if the sin of the Is- 
raelites might be forgiven. The answer he re- 
ceived was, " Whosoever hath sinned against me, him 
will I blot out of my book!' 

This reply to Moses speaks for itself, and stands 
in need of little comment ; but it fully bears out 
the suggestion that a certain species of science 
seemingly bears against our chance of a happy 
immortality. 

The second reference is to Rom. viii. 29. " For 
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate 
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that 
he might be the first-born of many brethren." 

How pointedly a conformity to the image of God 
is alluded to in this important verse. Its tarnisher 
ought never to be forgotten; it calls to mind how 
conscious was King David of being innocent of the 
great transgression, when he exclaimed, as before 
observed, " I will behold thy presence in righteous- 



76 



LETTER TO 



ness ; and when I awake up after thy likeness, I 
shall be satisfied ivith it." Doubtless, he felt within 
himself an assurance of being equal with the elect. 

Two more references to which Mr. Mansford 
points, in allusion to the election of grace, will 
suffice: 2 Thess. ii. 13. "But we are bound to 
give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved 
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning 
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the 
Spirit and belief of the truth!' 

Here, again, it appears to me perfectly clear, that 
we may be equal to the predestined, if our choice be 
to enter into the service of God. The entire tenor 
of the last quoted verse evidently proves it; for, 
what else can be made of that expression, " God 
hath from the beginning chosen you?" But mark, 
he sums up with the important requisite which God 
demands, namely, "belief of the truth." 

St. Paul, in my humble judgment, has clearly re- 
vealed to us, not only the state in which the pre- 
destined were prior to their election, but also God's 
motive for that act, according to Romans ix. 23 : 
" That he might make known the riches of his 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 77 

glory on the vessels of his mercy, which he had 
afore prepared unto his glory/' 

Now the word prepared, which is brought for- 
ward more than once in the passages to which 
Mr. Mansford has referred us, may possibly have 
been the stumbling -block so difficult with the contro- 
versialists to be overcome; and it might seem to 
them, as at first sight really appears to be the case, 
that those elect had never possessed the power of 
exercising free agency. The case, however, strikes 
me in a different point of view. It forces itself on 
my mind, that the all- wise Creator of all things, 
when he inspired St. Paul with a knowledge to 
make known to the world that marvellous election 
of grace, couched in the singular terms in which we 
find it, intended thus to create a sensation among 
mankind, in order to rouse them to an elucidation 
of the fact, that there was not only such a place 
prepared as the heavenly rest for the righteous and 
the believer, but that some having already been 
received into that abode, others might be stimulated 
to aim at the chance of a similar possession. 

Mr. Mansford's quotation from Joshua xxiv. 15, 



78 LETTER TO 

proves that he was aware that idolatry was the 
capital failing of the Israelites, though he might 
not particularly concern himself with the precise 
nature of their transgression. 

Joshua, a little before his death, " assembleth the 
tribes at Shechem" — and, in the course of his fare- 
well oration, says unto them, — "And if it seem evil 
unto you to serve the Lord, choose ye this day 
whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your 
fathers served that were on the other side of the 
flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land 
ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." 

This is similar to Elijah's proposition, but couched 
in different terms : "If the Lord be God, follow 
him; but if Baal, then follow him." They both 
relate, to the same deadly transgression, the molten 
calf, or system of the sun. 

I must now offer a few remarks upon Mr. Mans- 
ford's ' Two Resurrections / a different portion of 
his theme having as yet occupied our attention. 
The New Testament is open to all who may feel 
inclined to seek the requisite information in a brief 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 



79 



manner, as contained in the 20th chapter of St. 
John's Revelation; but to examine here the nu- 
merous references thence to other chapters and 
verses would be very tedious, more especially as I 
hesitate not to assert, that this would lead us to the 
main transgression to be overcome ; and which, if 
happily accomplished, would, according to St. John, 
rank us in that class of which he speaks ■ " Blessed 
and holy is he that hath part in the first resur- 
rection ; on such the second death hath no power." 

The whole of this chapter refers to Satan, the 
deceiver. At verse 4 we read, — " And I saw the 
souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of 
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not 
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither 
had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in 
their hands ; and they lived and reigned with Christ 
a thousand years/' And at verse 12: — "And I 
saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; 
and the books were opened : and another book was 
opened, which is the hook of life : and the dead were 
judged out of those things which were written in 
the books, according to their works." 

It appears clear to my mind that throughout the 
chapter the molten calf that deceiving idol which 



80 



LETTER TO 



is the visible embodiment of the system of the 
Sun, and as such represents the false teachings of 
Satan, stands revealed as the malignant destroyer. 
St. John's seven-headed and ten-horned beast, as 
described in the 13th chapter, evidently alludes to 
the same object. In the first place, seven heads 
and ten horns constitute the complement for a solar 
system. As to all the superfluities connected with 
it, they stand for nothing. 

The beast, according to St. John, verse 6, opened 
his mouth in blasphemy : " And he opened his mouth 
in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, 
and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
(7.) And it was given unto him to make war with 
the saints, and to overcome them : and power was 
given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
(8.) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship 
him, whose names are not written in the book of life 
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. " 

The above important verses become, incontest- 
ably, the expositor, solver, and remover of the 
allegory; and the marginal reference directs us 
to Exod. xxxii. 32, to the transgression of the 
erection of the molten calf ! 

St. John refers to the book of Daniel four times 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 81 

in the few verses we have quoted ; and in Daniel 
we are referred back again to St. John's seven- 
headed and ten-horned beast, which shows that the 
two were only one in meaning, Whatever were 
the nations to which Daniel's allegory referred, 
their population was involved in transgressional 
science ! and, similarly to that of St. John, Daniel's 
allegory becomes solved in the closing verses of 
his seventh chapter, — 25, 26, and 27. "And 
he shall speak great words against the most High, 
and shall wear out the saints of the most High, 
and think to change times and laws : and they 
shall be given into his hand until a time and 
times and the dividing of time. But the judgment 
shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, 
to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And 
the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be 
given to the people of the saints of the most 
High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and all dominions shall serve and obey him." 

The allegory, I repeat, is here solved; for by 
the two visions referring to the same object, (Exod. 



82 



LETTER TO 



xxxii. 32,) to the erection of the molten calf, it 
is reduced to understandable language. Further 
to confirm this opinion, Ezekiel, when prophesying 
against Jerusalem and against the Ammonites, may 
be quoted : he says, (chap, xxi.) : " The word of 
the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set 
thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word 
toward the holy places, and prophesy against the 
land of Israel. . . . Say, A sword, a sword 
is sharpened, and also furbished : it is sharpened 
to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it 
may glitter : should we then make mirth ? it con- 
temneth the rod of my son, &c. . . . There- 
fore thus saith the Lord God ; Because ye have 
made your iniquity to be remembered, in that 
your transgressions are discovered, so that in all 
your doings your sins do appear ; because, I say, 
that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be 
taken with the hand." He then proceeds to in- 
form the prince, the Instigator, of his final destruc- 
tion. " And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, 
whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an 
end, Thus saith the Lord God ; Remove the 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 83 

diadem, and take off the crown : this shall not 
be thus : exalt him that is low, and abase him 
that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn 
it -} and it shall be no more, until he come whose 
right it is ; and I will give it him." 

Reference* — Genesis xlix. 10. " The sceptre 
shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from 
between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto 
him shall the gathering of the people be." 

This reference sets all clear : the allegory va- 
nishes, and the Usurper stands revealed in the 
personage of Satan the Deceiver ! for we recol- 
lect his profane assumption, "I will exalt my 
throne above the stars of God, I will be like the 
most High :" therefore the prophet proclaimed, 
as we have already seen, by the command of God, 
" Remove the diadem, and take off the crown" &c. ; 
it shall be given to him tohose right it is. 

Ezekiel, under the inspiration of God, and in 
unison with the other prophets, issues tremendous 
threats against the Ammonites. He says, (ch. xxi. 
v. 15,) "I have set the point of the sword against 
all their gates, that their heart may faint, and 



84 LETTER TO 

their ruins be multiplied : ah ! it is made bright, 
it is wrapped up for the slaughter." The sword 
is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into 
the hand of the . slayer. I cannot agree with 
Mr. Gliddon, that all truth lay concealed in the 
Egyptian temple of Ammon : the truth which it 
possessed appears to my mind to have consisted 
solely in the fact of its idolatrous objects tallying 
with what the Scriptures aver to be false. True 
to falsehood, but far from truth ! 

I will here, in connection with this, quote the 
expression of St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
Hebrews, chapter i. verse 2. " (God) hath in 
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom 
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom 
also he made the worlds." The reference from 
this is to Psalm ii. 8. "Ask of me, and I will 
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
sion ; " which, doubtless, refers to no other than 
the kingdoms and nations of this world. 

A learned Israelite and Hebraist, to whom I 
applied for information regarding the term worlds, 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 85 

observed, that St. Paul was here addressing the 
Hebrews, and that they understood him in no 
other light than as alluding to this world and 
that which is to come. It was only when deep 
in their own idolatry, that they gave way to the 
theory of a plurality of worlds. Besides, it is 
not reasonable to suppose that St. Paul would 
be permitted, by the addition of a single letter 
to one particular word, to overthrow and put an 
extinguisher upon the whole of the sacred records, 
so as to expunge the truth, and maintain only 
the falsehood. Is the diadem and crown to re- 
main upon the head of the wicked instigator of 
a deadly sin; and is Christ's Gospel of the 
kingdom to be of no avail? Is the kingdom of 
the most High to be under the dominion of 
Daniel's metaphorical though easily - explained 
beast, which robs mankind of his glory ; and 
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world not to act his part? or, is this unlucky 
letter s to subvert the whole of St. Paul's most 
excellent doctrine? Undoubtedly not. To the 
Newtonian, who eagerly grasps it, this affords no 



S6 



LETTER TO 



aid, being unlike Mr. Mansford's "straw which 
wight sivett into a plank, and bear him over all 
the billows on which he may be tossed" in his 
astronomical researches into infinite space, to prove 
the motion of the earth. Far different is St. 
Paul's mention of worlds: it is a straw which 
must dwindle into a mere spider s thread. 

Much more might without difficulty be advanced 
on this subject : when the fountain-head of the 
spring of the transgression is once discovered, the 
streams or rivulets issuing therefrom become 
traceable ; and let the figurative language be 
what it may, it is manifest that there is no 
midway between the right and the icrong in the 
present case ; and that final destruction is awarded 
to the latter. We may therefore conclude, that 
although every tittle of the allegory may not be 
clearly seen, it signifies not, since it is clear that 
the entire theory of the "solar system" is in- 
volved in the transgressional whole. A specimen 
or two from St. John's Revelation will suffice to 
show the reasonableness of this observation. 

The first extract is from the 14th chapter, 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 87 

which is not so deeply allegorical as others. 
The 17th is highly figurative throughout, and 
will be taken into consideration hereafter. 

In chap. xiv. St. John apprises the world of 
the fall of Babylon, by angels (according to the 
vision which he had) being commissioned to make 
known the fall of that great city. 

Of the second angel's commission he thus speaks 
at verse 6. "And I saw another angel fly in 
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel 
to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, 
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, 
and people, (7.) Saying with a loud voice, Fear 
God, and give glory to him ; for the hour of his 
judgment is come : and worship him that made 
heaven, and earth," &c. Here we perceive that 
the system of creation is prominently alluded to, 
in connection with the time when the hour of 
God's judgment is come, to cast down the system 
of tlie opposer. Speculative science gives no glory 
unto God; the only lauding in which it deals is 
that of mankind lauding each other. 

Verse 8. "And there followed another angel, 



88 LETTER TO 

saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great 
city, because she made all nations drink of the 
wine of the wrath of her fornication; 5 ' meaning 
her spiritual impurity in the great astronomical 
temple of Bel! 

It must be constantly borne in mind, that in 
this investigation the words drunkenness and for- 
nication solely allude to spiritual depravity. It 
is written in Scripture, "Ye shall no more call 
me i^Jft Baali, but *»t^ Is/d, my husband;" 
therefore, unbelief and departure from the word, 
may with strict propriety be deemed spiritual 
adultery. 

The 17th chapter, as already observed, is highly 
figurative throughout, and in the usual strain op- 
poses Babylon, which made war against the Science 
and the Doctrine of the Lamb : it is the most 
significant chapter in the whole Revelation ; con- 
taining metaphorical emblems capable of being 
sufficiently elucidated to prove that the main 
transgression, the molten calf, or system of the 
sun, is the object of its theme, and that it is 
also the denouncer of its final dissolution. 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 89 

Chapter xvii. is headed as follows : 1 — 4, "A 
woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, toith a golden 
cup in her hand, sitteth upon the beast, (5) which 
is great Babylon, the mother of all abominations : 
(9) the interpretation of the seven heads, (12) and 
the ten horns : (14) the victory of the Lamb: (16) 
the punishment of the whore" 

1. "And there came one of the seven angels 
which had the seven vials, and talked with me, 
saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto 
thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth 
upon many waters. 

2. "With whom the kings of the earth have 
committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the 
earth have been made drunk with the wine of 
her fornication. 9 

3. "So he carried me away in the spirit into the 
wilderness : and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet- 
coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having 
seven heads and ten horns. 

9 " Made drunk with the wine of her fornication ;" that is, completely 
intoxicated with a deadly science. Similarly does the prophet Isaiah 
exclaim, when referring to the like delinquency, " Woe to the crown of 
pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim," &c. 



90 LETTER TO 

4. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and 
scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious 
stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her 
hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her 
fornication. 

5. "And upon her forehead was a name writ- 
ten, 10 Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother 

OE HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 

6. "And I saw the woman drunken with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the 
martyrs of Jesus : and when I saw her, I wondered 
with great admiration. 

7. "And the angel said unto me, Wherefore 
didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery 
of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, 
which hath seven heads and ten horns. 

8. " The beast that thou sawest was, and is not ; 

10 Reference — 2 Thess. ii. 7. " For the mystery of iniquity doth already 
work : only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
(8.) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall con- 
sume with the spirit of his mouth (his word), and shall destroy with the 
brightness of his coming : (9.) Even him, whose coming is after the 
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." . . . This 
reveals to us the instigator of the wicked device of the system of the 
sun, 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 



91 



and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go 



shall wonder (whose names were not written in the 
book of life from the foundation of the world) when 
they behold the beast that was, and is not, and 
yet is. 11 

9. " And here is the mind that hath wisdom. 
The seven heads are seven mountains, 12 on which 
the woman sitteth. 



11 This expression, " when they behold the beast that was, and is not, 
and yet is," admits, in my humble judgment, of easy explanation. The 
Israelites were for a long period without any Teraphim, as their idolatrous 
erections of the system of Baal the Sun are sometimes called: this ac- 
counts for the beast that was, and is not. During its dormant state, of 
course, it " is not;" and the addition, " and yet is," appears to me to be 
equally manifest, because it was never slain, and, consequently, had the 
power to revive again when its wound became healed. It did revive, and 
has long been in action, and is in full vigour at the present day. 

12 This does not interfere with those seven heads and ten horns of solar 
system notoriety. In the present instance they answer more purposes 
than one : they are applied to mountains, kings, and nations, according 
as the metaphorical subject requires. The use that is made of them 
at present regards the extension of the great city under consideration. 
The term woman, i. e. city, we find used in lieu of she. 

The metaphor gives us to understand that the city of Babylon was of 
immense extent, and we may infer that her habitations in the vale were 
not the only ones ; they extended up the acclivities of the seven moun- 
tains, even to their very tops ! Disrobe it of its metaphor, and it is, in 
plain terms, an immense city whose habitations covered vales and moun- 
tains. The specified seven assumes a boundary showing the exactitude of 



into 




dwell on the earth 



92 LETTER TO 

10. "And there are seven kings : five are fallen, 
and one is, and the other is not yet come; and 
when he cometh, 13 he must continue a short space. 

11. "And the beast that was, and is not, even 
he is the eighth, and is of the seven, 14 and goeth 
into perdition. 



God's announcements. Indeed, we may say that the city of Bath, which 
is called the Queen of the West, is similar, only on a smaller scale. Its 
habitations and mansions of all descriptions extend from the vale to the 
mountain tops. 

13 Reference — Rev. iii. 10. " Because thou hast kept the word of my 
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall 
come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 

It will appear from the above, to all those who may be inclined to 
consult the chapter itself, that the seventh king which was to come, was 
to be one similar to a select few which resided at Sardis, of whom the 
account says, " which have not defiled their garments ; and they shall 
walk (saith Christ) with me in white : for they are worthy." And he 
then remarks, — " He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white 
raiment ; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life," which 
points out the forthcoming pure one ; making the seven complete. 

14 Can any thing suit more admirably than " even he is the eighth, 
and is of the seven?" It perfectly corresponds with that super- 
fluity which abounds over and above the regular complement of our 
solar system : it likewise accords with the " unimaginable magni- 
tude" of numberless worlds, suns, and solar systems, which our modern 
astronomers aver to exist. I consider this verse to be of vast import- 
ance, pithy and concise : all metaphor vanishes when we have ascertained 
the nature of the transgression to which it alludes. The reference also 
applies to verse 8, which we repeat in confirmation of the truth of the 
singular and important subject under discussion. " The beast that thou 
sawest was, and is not ; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 93 

12. "And the ten horns 15 which thou sawest are 
ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet ; 
but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 

13. "These have one mind, and shall give their 
power and strength unto the beast. 

14. " These shall make war with the Lamb, and 



into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose 
names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the 
world) when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." 

Nothing can possibly correspond with, confirm, or more clearly elucidate 
the meaning of " even he is the eighth, and is of the seven" than this 
reference : it moreover applies to Jesus Christ's reference to the trans- 
gression of the molten calf, the fountain-bead of iniquity. 

15 Reference — Dan. vii. 20. Daniel, when on the subject of the " visions 
of his head upon his bed" says, at verse 8, " I considered the horns, and, 
behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom 
there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots : and, behold, 
in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great 
things." 

Now it is worthy of notice, that this horn, small as it was, possessed 
the power of speaking great things with its mouth ! Its eyes, likewise, 
were not like the eyes of a beast, but like the eyes of man. Therefore it 
is reasonable to conclude, that that little horn was significant of some 
nation, — horns and heads being symbolical of kinys and nations, as well 
as of astronomy, and therefore symbolizing, in the present instance, some 
nation raging against the Word of God, and with its mouth lauding that 
deadly transgression, the molten calf, under the dominion of the Son of 
Perdition. 

It may also be noted, that the ten horns mentioned in verse 12 are 
said to be ten kings, confirming, as before observed, that horns and heads 
are used metaphorically for kings, nations, and astronomy, as the allego- 
rical subject requires. 



94 LETTER TO 

the Lamb shall overcome them : for he is Lord of 
lords, and King of kings : and they that are with 
him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 

15. " And he saith unto me, 16 The waters which 
thou saAvest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, 
and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 

16. "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon 
the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make 
her desolate 17 and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and 
burn her with fire. 

17. " For God 18 hath put in their hearts to fulfil 



16 Reference — Isaiah viii. 7. " Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth 
up upon them (the Babylonian territories) the waters of the river, strong 
and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory : and he shall come 
up over all his channels, and go over all his banks." As God did appoint, 
so did the enemies of Babylon rush upon them like an overwhelming 
flood, removing the diadem, and taking off the crown; thus leaving the 
great city, as it is found in the present day, an awful desolation. 

17 Reference — Ezek. xvi. 38. "And I will judge thee, as women that 
break wedlock," &c. ; which confirms what has already been remarked, 
that the allegory in verse 16, when explained, is neither more nor less 
than spiritual depravity, i. e. unfaithfulness, when applied to our bounden 
duty of obedience to God. 

18 Reference — 2 Thess. ii. 11. " And for this cause God shall send them 
strong delusion, that they should believe a he." It may be here ob- 
served, that the ten horns mentioned in verse 16 are, as usual, symbols 
of ten kings with their nations ; for it is clear that horns could not be 
literally intended, a horn being an inanimate thing ; and the expression 
" God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will" may be deemed a sort 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 95 

his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto 
the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 
18. " And the woman which thou sawest is that 

of hardening, similar to that of Pharaoh, whereby was made more manifest 
the many, various, and terrific inflictions which God empowered Moses to 
perform in the land of Egypt. So that in the present instance, by causing 
an auxiliary of ten kingdoms , — opposers of God, — the doom of Babylon 
might be couched in the strongest of terms ; and thus we find, in Rev. 
xviii. — "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ; 
for God hath avenged you on her." For, " in her was found the blood of 
prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." Our 
molten calf, or system of the sun, is truly, indeed, a guide to error and to 
the punishment which awaits inattention to the revealed commands of God ! 

We have now given the whole of St. John's notable chapter, descriptive 
of the beast ; and to make our subject the more impressive and complete, 
we will transcribe the whole of the second chapter of the second Epistle 
of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, the heading of which is as follows : 

{V) u He willeth them to continue steadfast in the truth received, (3) 
showeth that there shall be a departure from the faith, (9) and a dis- 
covery of Antichrist, before the day of the Lord come. (15) And there- 
upon repeateth his former exhortation, and prayeth for them." 

1. "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2.) That ye be not soon 
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by 
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. (3.) Let no man 
deceive you by any means : for that day shall not come, except there 
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of per- 
dition ; (4.) Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called 
God, or that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of 
God, showing himself that he is God. (5.) Remember ye not, that, when 
I was yet with you, I told you these things ? (6.) And now ye know 
what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. (7.) For the 
mystery of iniquity doth already work : only he who now letteth will let, 



96 LETTER TO 

great city, which reigneth over the kings of the 
earth." 

Her pomp, her splendour, and her proud science, 
caused her overthrow. 

until he be taken out of the way. (8.) And then shall that Wicked be 
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming : (9.) Even him, whose 
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying 
wonders, (10.) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them 
that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth, that they 
might be saved. (11.) And for this cause God shall send them strong 
delusion, that they should believe a lie : (12.) That they all might be 
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 
(13.) But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren 
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to 
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth: 
(14.) Whereunto he called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the 
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (15.) Therefore, brethren, stand fast, 
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or 
our epistle. (16.) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our 
Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation 
and good hope through grace, (17.) Comfort your hearts, and stablish 
you in every good word and work." 

It is impossible to reflect seriously on every part of the preceding 
chapter without feeling a confidence that St. Paul was inspired of God 
with the nature of the transgression of the wilderness ; and that when he 
made use of the term worlds, no other was meant than this world and 
that which is to come: for how otherwise could he elsewhere unhesi- 
tatingly declare the system of the sun to be a lie, and announce in another 
of his Epistles, as a truth, the very objects which engender that idolatrous 
sin, of which he expressly states that Satan was the Instigator ? In another 
place he has even recorded the number of the slain which it caused. St. 
John likewise remarks, " And in her (Babylon, the temple of Bel) was 



CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 97 

Various illustrations of the Israelitish idolatry, 
together with their explanations, were given in the 
' Observations on a Memoir of the late Mr. Howell' 
They are, however, introduced at the end of this 
volume, as they may not have been seen by some 
to whom it may be presented ; and more especially 
on account of the opportunity which they offer for 
comparison with the forms represented in the 
Vision of Ezekiel, from which they differ materially 
in one respect. The Vision of Ezekiel, although 
it represents a system of revolvency, exhibits no 
Molech or solar ruler, and is therefore totally un- 
like all that has gone before it, at the same 
time that it contains in metaphor, in my humble 
opinion at least, something clearly explanatory of 
the heavenly host. 

The cherubim in the present instance appear 
to be the principal objects, and their actions and 
significant meanings are, of course, all that can 

found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of ah that dwell upon the 
earth." This may appear to be an exaggerated statement ; but when we 
reflect attentively upon the wars of the Lord, we find that in their tremendous 
conflicts the aggressing nations — the devotees of the molten calf — were 
invariably subdued, and frequently, almost utterly exterminated. There- 
fore, their slain may, according to Scripture, he laid to the same charge. 

Gr 



98 LETTER TO 

be brought forward in the way of application to 
the system of Creation. A few extracts from the 
prophet's own account, aided by one or two of 
the references connected therewith, are, of neces- 
sity, indispensable to an explanation of the pro- 
phet's meaning. 

Ezekiel, chap. i. ver. 1. "Now it came to pass 
in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the 
fifth day of the month, (as I was among the 
captives by the river of Chebar,) that 6 the 
heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God." 

In the margin, to make this reference* the 
more emphatic, it is observed, " So Matth. iii. 16, 
referring to the opening of the heavens at the 
baptism of Christ, as thus : ' And Jesus, when 
he was baptized, went up straightway out of the 
water : and lo, the heavens were opened unto 
him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending 
like a dove, and lighting upon him.' " By which 
we learn that Ezekiel's Vision was of equal 
importance in its way, and equally true. 

Verses 2, 3. "In the fifth day of the month, 
which toas the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's 



CHARLES EM PS ON j ESQ. 99 

captivity, the word of the Lord came expressly 
unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the 
land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar ; and^ 
the hand of the Lord was there upon him." 

Now this reference d , which is to 1 Kings xviii. 46, 
is equally important as that of the former, relative 
to the heavens being opened at the baptism of 
Christ, because the chapter in question contains 
the miraculous account of the total discomfiture 
of the prophets of Baal, and their consequent 
slaughter! The obtaining of rain, which Elijah 
procured whilst the hand of the Lord was upon 
him, is indeed the second miraculous occurrence 
which it records. 19 God heard Elijah's petition in 

19 Reference — 1 Kings xviii. 46. "And the hand of the Lord was on 
Elijah," &c. The object at that time was to obtain rain, from the absence 
of which, according to Ahab, there had been a distressing drought. We 
read, " And Elijah said unto Ahab," (of course while the hand of the Lord 
was upon him,) " Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of 
abundance of rain." Ahab, no doubt, with intense pleasure obeyed the 
dictates of Elijah, in the present instance ; whilst Elijah betook himself 
" to the top of Carmel, and cast himself down upon the earth," in fervent 
devotion and supplication, interceding for rain, and occasionally sending 
out his servant to espy the wished-for " little cloud." At last, after " the 
seventh time," the joyous tidings were brought to him, — " Behold, there 
ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand." And Elijah said 
unto his servant, " Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get 
thee down, that the rain stop thee not." 



100 LETTER TO 

both cases. In the first, fire came down from 
heaven to vindicate the Sacred Word touching the 
system of Creation ; and in the second, rain de- 
scended upon the earth to refresh the parched-up 
vegetation, and to exhilarate fainting man ! 

We now proceed to the contemplation of 
Ezekiel's Vision, when the loord of the Lord 
came expressly unto him, and the hand of the 
Lord was upon him. In this peculiar, and, as 
we may justly term it, awful and solemn situation, 
he proceeds to give, at verse 4, the following 
description of the cherubim : " And I looked, and, 
behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a 
great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a 
brightness was about it, and out of the midst 
thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst 
of the fire." Verse 5. "Also out of the midst 
thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. 
And this was their appearance : they had the 
likeness of a man." Passing thence to verse 16, 
we read, " The appearance of the wheels and 
their work was like unto the colour of a beryl : 
and they four had one likeness : and their appear- 



EzekLels vision of the glory of GO D. 




Eze/ci&l I. Vcrs& 4 . 



And I looked, and behold a whirlwind 
came out of the North. a great elond, and 
afire infolding itfelf.etc. 



CHARLES EMPSQN, ESQ. 101 

ance and their work was as it were a wheel in 
the middle of a wheel.' 5 Verse 18. "As for 
their rings, they were so high that they were 
dreadful ; and their rings ivere full of eyes round 
about them four," (emblematic of the all-seeing 
Spirit of God.) Verse 19. "And when the living 
creatures went, the wheels went by them; and 
when the living creatures were lifted up from 
the earth, the wheels were lifted up." Verse 
20. "Whithersoever the spirit ivas to go, they 
went, thither was their spirit to go ; and the 
wheels were lifted up over against them : for the 
spirit of the living creature was in the wheels :" 
meaning, of course, that God's spirit maintaineth 
the revolvency of the heavenly host. 

The description given in verse 15 is strikingly 
singular : " Now as I beheld the living creatures, 
behold one wheel upon the earth by the living 
creatures, with his four faces." 

This conveys to my mind the impression, that 
as God's spirit toucheth all creation, it was 
necessary the prophet should see that one wheel 
touched the earth, since it served to confirm the 



102 LETTER TO 

fact that the earth is stationary; because, when 
God's spirit touched this portion of his ivorks 
(the earth) through the medium of the wheel, and 
departed again therefrom without carrying that 
object along with it, the force of an imperative 
command seemed to be given ; — a single touch 
from the irresistible spirit stamped it his im- 
moveable footstool ! Had there been any attraction 
in the wheel, so as to have caused the earth to 
have been lifted up with it, the prophet would 
have been insensible to its rising from the earth, as 
both would then have been carried together, and 
thus an apparent confirmation of the revolvency 
of the globe on which we live would have been 
presented : whereas, his consciousness of the rising 
up of the wheel fully establishes, at least to my 
mind, that the reverse is the fact. 

In the Revelation of St. John, a description 
of the cherubim is given, to which the fifth verse 
above quoted from Ezekiel refers us. This ought 
to have been noticed in its proper place, but 
nevertheless, there can be no impropriety in our 
bestowing attention on it here. 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 103 

Reference 8 (Ezek. i. 5.) Revelation, chap. iv. 
verses 6 and 7. " And before the throne there 
teas a sea of glass like unto crystal : and in the 
midst of the throne, and round about the throne, 
were four beasts full of eyes before and behind ! 
And the first beast was like a lion, and the second 
beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face 
as a man, and the fourth beast tvas like a flying 
eagle." 

The above is undoubtedly descriptive of the 
cherubim, and the metaphor admits of explanation 
in the following manner : 

The lion is the emblem of light. The calf is the 
animal emblem of fire, and also of revolvency, — 
not, let it be remembered, the cause of revolvency 
according to our orrery fashion, but significant 
of the revolving host around the stable earth. The 
fourth, the flying eagle, is an emblem of the Spirit, 
— in the present instance, an emblem of the Spirit 
of the living God. They are grand and suitable 
attendants upon the throne of the Almighty, 
resting not day and night, saying, £C Holy, holy, 
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, 



104 LETTER TO 

and is to come." The metaphor is carried on as 
though all the powers in Nature proclaimed, " Thou 
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, 
and power: for thou hast created all things, and 
for thy pleasure they are and were created ! " 

Whilst on the subject of the cherubim, I may 
remark that St. John's expression, in speaking 
of " eyes before and behind'' coincides with the 
description given by Ezekiel when speaking of 
" their rings" which " were so high that they were 
dreadful" and "full of eyes round about them 
four" — in each case alluding metaphorically to 
the unsubduable penetration of God's Spirit , — 
grasping within one glance the whole of creation! 
which its opponent, the hypothetical system, is 
totally incapable of, since neither eye nor imagin- 
ation of man can comprehend as a ivhole that 
which is illimitable ! 

The practical and vital importance of the subject 
to which it refers will warrant my recurring to the 
expression of St. Paul which I have already quoted 
in page 75, that contained in Romans viii. 29. 
"Tor whom he did foreknow, he also did pre- 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 105 

clestinate to be conformed to the image of his 
Son," &c. This appears to my mind to constitute 
an important link in the chain of Scriptural 
evidence against that besetting sin of idolatry 
to which our astronomical science of the present 
day tends, and which represents in modern times 
the false worship of the ancient world. Bearing 
in mind the other texts referred to, and applying 
the present one to them, we have the whole mean- 
ing of the inspired writers complete, namely, that 
both spiritually and materially our glory is changed 
by the adoption of that peculiar transgression, the 
molten calf, or solar system. 

Before closing the present subject, upon which 
much more might be adduced, — and which, if 
health permits, will be resumed at a future period, 
— I venture to make the following observations. 

Since the Scriptures were not written merely for 
the time being, but for all future ages, may not the 
nations and peoples exhibited in the drama of the 
present world, and whose habits may chance to 
assimilate to what the sacred records aver to be a 
transgression, be considered as figured in the Bible ? 



106 LETTER TO 

I think they may; and also that Great Britain 
may not only be styled a figure, but that the 
member of Daniel's beast denominated the little 
horn, is applicable to her. 

It is to be recollected, that in those days when 
the Israelites erected their scientific images, they 
were inactive and dumb; not that their erecters 
were ignorant of their purport, or they could not 
have expressed their significations so precisely in 
the Hebrew language as to make them tally in 
meaning with our orrery. The annexed Plate 
neatly illustrates Solomon's devotedness to specu- 
lative science : his dumb, inactive orrery, was not 
without its lecturer ; his own mind furnished the 
requisites. 

]\ t oav Daniel's little /torn, in its astronomical 
capacity, was decidedly different from all the 
others: it had the attributes of human nature; 
for he says, " Behold, in this horn were eyes like 
the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things?' 
Hence it is evident that it must have referred 
to those future nations which might, as it were, 
give life unto the beast, and with their eyes behold, 



CHARLES EMPS0N, ESQ. 107 

and with their mouths lecture, and speak great things, 
against the most High. This is decidedly appli- 
cable to Great Britain in her present Parliament of 
Science ; for the beast, as before observed, compre- 
hends nationality and astronomy. The case stands 
simply thus : If the most High hath been the 
Inspirer of what is called Holy Writ, and, conse- 
quently, therein be the Truth, then the teachings 
of the present epoch are calculated utterly to ex- 
tinguish in the human mind all traces of the Word 
of God. Furthermore, it may be remarked, if the 
Holy Trinity embrace the truth, we have the three 
united, and separately, against the molten calf, or 
system of the sun. 

God the Father saith, " Whosoever hath sinned 
against me, him will I blot out of my book," — 
alluding to the transgression in question. God 
the Son saith, " He that overcometh, I will not 
blot out his name out of the book of life," &c, — 
alluding to the same; and, according to St. Paul, 
God the Holy Ghost saith, " To-day if ye will hear 
his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the pro- 
vocation, in the day of temptation in the wilder- 



1 OS LETTER TO CHARLES EMPSON, ESQ. 

ness" &c., — "And to whom sware he that they 
should not enter into Ms rest, but to them that 
believed not ?" 

We have, then, the Trinity, separately and 
unitedly, condemning the transgression to which 
our attention has been most strenuously directed; 
and I will therefore close this letter by repeating 
Joshua's proposal to the tribes assembled at She- 
chem — " Choose ye this day whom ye will 

SERVE." 

I remain, dear Sir, 

Yours, &c, 

C. HOUSMAN. 



HUGHES AND ROBINSON, PRINTERS, KING'S HEAD COURT, GOUGH SQUARE. 



ZIfirigs c.XDLr.ty. 

As lie was worsMpping in the lions e of 
Msrochliis god, Adrammelecli smote Mm 
^vitli the sword. 



Daniel discovers the deceit ofBel's priests . 




m> 6nid, ?rotc& -foea/* art/fane, OB el, M 



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